


Kitty Break

by EmberSwitch



Series: The Break Saga [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU, Break Saga AU, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Slow Burn, post season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21965608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberSwitch/pseuds/EmberSwitch
Summary: Third in the Break Saga.  Ever since her trip through a First One temple with Glimmer, things have been looking up for Catra.  She’s mended some bridges with her friends, she’s fixing up the Hoard into a military force she can actually be proud of, and she’s not angry all the time anymore.  But when she finds out that the person responsible for her new lease on life maybe in danger, (or maybe not) it starts Catra out on a new adventure filled with magic, friendship, near misses, royal beds, and some new culinary concoction called “sushi.”  Also, she’s lost some weight.  And opposable thumbs.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: The Break Saga [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1457341
Comments: 28
Kudos: 310





	1. Back in Action

In the weeks following the Battle of Bright Moon and the promotion of Catra to Hoard Commander, the troops of the Hoard had lived in terror. Catra was a slave driver with a chip on her shoulder, and it was an open secret that she had suffered a few chips to her sanity as well. She would lash out at anyone for even the slightest provocation, such as breathing too loudly, or not breathing loudly enough as Kyle had found out several times. Her punishments ranged from intensive training drills, imprisonment, or more likely just a good beating right there on the spot. These usually came when Scorpia wasn’t around to remind her that she needed her troops fighting fit, so whenever anyone saw Catra brooding down the hallways alone, they turned the other way as quickly and quietly as they could. 

But after the Second March on Bright Moon, something strange happened. Catra had gone missing for nearly six hours after the battle, and everyone had prayed that she stayed that way for fear of what new methods of mass torture they would face if she returned. But instead of burning with rage at their failure, Catra had returned looking tired, regretful, and considerably calmer. She immediately put all nonessential personnel on a mandatory forty eight hours of down time for rest and recovery, and for a week afterward kept the entire Hoard on light duty. 

During the following weeks, she toured through all the Hoard facilities she was responsible for with Scorpia, Entrapta, and sometimes even Emily at her side. Entrapta helped by taking notes, explain some of the more complicated machinery and computers, and offering ideas on how to improve productivity and workplace safety and conditions. Scorpia’s job was to try to assure everyone they interviewed that Catra wasn’t going to tear out their eyes if she heard something she didn’t like, and Emily… beeped supportively.

Catra stayed mostly silent during these tours, often only speaking too or through Scorpia or Entrapta. When she did speak directly to anyone, it was to awkwardly thank them for their work, or congratulate an individual on a specific contribution they had made. It was a new leadership tactic called “positive reinforcement” that Scorpia had suggested she try in order to help show that she had turned over a new leaf. 

Unfortunately, this overnight change in leadership tactics somehow made her troops even _more_ terrified of her. Rumors whispered through the hoard that this new “nice” Catra was simply a ploy she was borrowing from her old mentor Shadow Weaver, and that she was looking for promising new cadets to take on as her personal proteges and abuse just as Shadow Weaver had done to her. No amount of coaxing, reassurance, or “for crying out loud would you all just lighten up a little!?” would prevent anyone from sweating bullets every time they caught sight of her. 

Eventually, Catra and the rest finished their tour and the hoard resumed its usual work. Fighting the rebellion. 

“So how are we doing?” Catra asked uninterestedly from her perch atop the commander’s tank. 

“Hmmm, could go either way,” Scorpia said, scanning over the battlefield with a pair of new prototype ‘macro-binoculars’ Entrapta had asked them to field test. She passed them to Catra who took them without a word and perused the battle herself. 

They were fighting to take back a small outpost the rebellion had liberated during the hoards week long vacation. It wasn’t anything special, just a minor vantage point, but as neither side had done any fighting for nearly a month, they were giving it their all and putting on quite a show. Stun beams and trick arrows flew past each other as steal clashed and bones rattled. 

And Catra was left watching the fun from nearly a mile away. 

“You know, I bet I could finish this up real quick if I just-“

“Stayed here and supervised the battle like a good commander,” Scorpia finished for her. 

Catra pouted and slumped over the tank, grumbling. 

“Hey, you asked me to help you be a good commander, right?” Scorpia said. Catra grumbled in response. “And that’s what commander’s do. They command. Come on, wasn’t that like lesson one of Force Commander Orientation?”

“Wouldn’t know,” Catra said, flicking a bit of debris off the tank. “I was too busy being insane to go.”

Scorpia frowned. 

“Well, look on the bright side,” she said, clapping Catra on the back and nearly sending her tumbling off the tank. “You started off crazy and then went sane. Most commanders do it the other way around! Plus, new brain, new you! And I think you’re doing great so far!”

“Thanks,” Catra mumbled, rubbing her back and giving Scorpia a sidelong glare. Scorpia failed to notice. She was distracted by a golden glow on the edge of the battlefield. 

“Hey, isn’t that what’s her face?”

“Huh?” 

Catra followed Scorpia’s pointing claw and saw a flash of white and the glint of a sword. She nearly slammed the binoculars onto her face and saw the mighty She-Ra turning the tide of battle in all her glowing, gag inducing glory. 

“Well, looks like that’s the end of this skirmish,” Scorpia said, reaching down to start up the tank again. “Still, I think it was a nice little warm up after the break. Everybody looked like they were having fun and… Catra?” 

Scorpia looked around her now solitary transport. When she looked back at the battle, she saw the shrinking form of Catra racing towards it. She sighed. 

“There goes the war.”

* * *

Catra smiled as she leapt and pounced her way across the battlefield. This was her element. Not stuck reviewing propositions and plans at a desk, or telling other people what to do from the safety of a fortified position. It was only in the midst of battle that she felt at home now. The rush as she spotted a rebellion soldier about to best one of her troops just moments before she used him as a springboard to push herself forward. The look of terror on the face of anyone who spotted her approaching, no matter which side she was on. The wide birth she was given as she made her way to her target. It was exhilarating, it was breathtaking, it was…

…Not really that much fun anymore actually. 

As she came closer to Adora, she realized that the smile on her face was forced. Her old love of terrorizing and flaunting her power and authority was still there, but there was something else now too. An annoyingly nagging feeling that felt suspiciously like when Adora would frown at her for doing something against the rules back when they were cadets. What was that feeling called again? Oh yeah, _guilt_. 

Catra pushed those negative feelings aside as she deftly landed on a large boulder above She-Ra as she tossed aside a handful of hoard troopers. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on her newly awakened conscience, she had a role to play. 

“Hey Adora,” she purred down from her perch. 

She-Ra’s tiara clad face whipped around to glare up at her. 

“Catra!” 

She-Ra’s eyes burned with accusation, and Catra couldn’t help but glance down at the new scars on her hands. She felt her ears flatten of their own accord before she could stop herself. 

Okay, maybe that conscience thing wasn’t going to quiet down as easily as she thought. 

“You’re looking… better,” Catra began, trying to keep herself from giving away any _further_ signs of weakness. “Looks like your grip is as- HEY!”

  
Catra yelled as a beam of pure energy came flying at her. Pure feline instinct saved her skin as she leapt away into a nearby tree while the rock under her was blasted away into gravel. She crouched low in the leaves, trying to hide her position as she felt her heart pounding in her throat. If she hadn’t been looking directly at Adora’s hands she would have missed the subtle tell of the attack. 

“What did you do to her?” Adora growled, pointing her sword at the tree, her eyes searching for Catra. 

“Huh?” Catra asked. 

“What did you do to her!?” Adora repeated, and the sword began to glow again. 

“Woah woah woah! I haven’t done _anything_ to _anyone_!” Catra insisted, ducking low and mentally adding, ‘… _lately_.’ 

She-Ra’s glare deepened, and the sword glowed a little brighter. Catra groaned. Why did Adora always have to be such a pain in the neck. 

“Look Princess Property Damage,” Catra said carefully as she crept around to the far side of the tree. “I have no idea what or who you’re talking about. So how about we put down the death ray and-”

“Tell me what you did to Glimmer!” She-Ra snapped thrusting the still glowing sword forward.

“…Oh, _that_.” Catra said, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t do anything to your precious new girlfriend. Wait, where is Sparkles anyway?” she added, looking around at the battlefield beneath her. It was conspicuously absent of glittery magic.

“You’re lying.” Adora said, her voice still low and dangerous.

“Am not!” Catra snapped back.

“Are too!”

“Am _not_!”

“Are _too_!”

“Bweeeeeeeeeep!”

The sound of the hoard’s retreat horn blared over the battlefield. Catra gave a grateful sigh. 

“Saved by the bell,” she whispered to herself. Then she called back to She-Ra, “Guess we’ll have to save it for next time. Later, Princess!” And with that she leapt out of her hiding place and made a mad dash for a group of retreating hoard bots. 

“Hey, get back here! Catra!”

As she passed one of the robots Catra reached up and slapped it on the side, causing it to turn and take note of the hoard’s “primary threat.” As the hoard bots opened fire on She-Ra, Catra continued to race back to the commanders tank. Despite the fact that her little prance across the battlefield had been barely a warmup, she felt a cold sweat trickle down the back of her neck. 

_Something_ had happened to Glimmer. And whatever it was, it seemed that _something_ was bad enough that it had finally pushed Adora over the edge. 

But why blame her? The last time Catra had seen Sparkles was when they had parted ways in the Whispering Woods. She had been pretty tired after their adventure in the First One’s temple, but Catra had let her rest enough to walk back on her own, hadn’t she? Glimmer _had_ to have made it back to Brightmoon, right?

Right?

“Hey, there’s my favorite hoard commander!” Scorpia said brightly as Catra dropped back into the commander’s tank. She noticed the scowl on Catra’s face and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I, ah, hope you don’t mind me giving the evacuation order.” 

Catra just grunted in response and flopped down into a seat. 

“Good…” Scorpia said uncertainly, turning her eyes back to the road. “So, I know this could seem like a loss. Since, you know, we lost and all. But how about we look at this as just shaking the rust off the tanks and warming up those fightin’ bones.” 

Catra sighed and closed her eyes. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

And long it was. Scorpia had them begin taking inventory of their losses as soon as they got back. Then reports had to be written, then verified, then finally approved so that Entrapta and Emily could begin evaluations for what needed to be scrapped, what could be repaired, and what needed to be flagged for upgrading. And for some reason all of this had to be overseen personally by Catra.

She was 100% positive that her predecessor had never waisted time on mundane bullshit like this. Then again, under Shadow Weaver’s “ _leadership_ ” about a third of their equipment always either malfunctioned, misfired, or just flat out broke down either enroot, during, or returning from field operations. 

The entire process was made even longer due to Catra’s thoughts constantly drifting back to her last moments with Glimmer. She had to keep telling herself that she wasn’t worried. Which she wasn’t, because why would she be? Just because Glimmer had saved her life _and_ her sanity, that didn’t mean anything. She’d saved Catra sure, but then she’d saved Glimmer back, then Glimmer had saved her, she’d saved Glimmer again, then she’d let Glimmer go, and Glimmer had given her a favor. They were square now. All debts paid. 

Of course, Catra reasoned that evening as she made her way down to the docking bay to check out a skiff for some “field testing,” if something _had_ happened to Glimmer that would change things. Catra had let Glimmer go, but in exchange Glimmer had promised not to tell Adora anything about their little adventure. If Glimmer hadn’t made it back to Bright Moon… well, technically she still wouldn’t have told Adora anything, but Catra couldn’t just let her get away on a _technicality_ could she?

No, Catra decided as she hopped aboard the skiff and sped off at a brisk, but certainly not _panicked_ speed towards the Whispering Woods. No, she certainly couldn’t let her get off on a technicality. 


	2. Sherlock Catra: Hoard Detective

Catra spent the next few hours carefully retracing her steps to where she had parted ways with Glimmer, and then attempting to follow her month-old trail while staying clear of any Rebellion patrols that might be about. 

It was lucky that Glimmer had been too tired to teleport or put any thought into covering her tracks and had simply plowed through the forest in a straight line. It was also lucky that the Whispering Woods still hadn’t recovered enough from Entrapta’s meddling with the Runestones to rearrange itself. By the time Catra had made it to the tree line bordering on Bright Moon, she realized she needn’t have bothered worrying about any patrols either. 

Catra’s senses were second to none when she was on alert, and she was positive there hadn’t been a single other sentient creature in the forest apart from herself that night. There was no sign of any patrols, sentries, or any other defensive placements around the castle apart from a small village or troop encampment at its base. Catra spent nearly thirty minutes looking, listening, and throwing rocks at empty space in an attempt to work out what defenses the Castle had, before finally accepting the insane conclusion that the only protection it had was the empty forest she had just walked through! 

Whispering Woods had successfully protected Bright Moon since before the Hoards arrival on the planet, but now that the magic of the forest was neutralized, and a quarter mile wide road leading directly from the Fright Zone to Bright Moon Castle had been carved through it, surely they realized they had to update their defenses, right? 

Catra couldn’t help but feel a surge of indignation at being thwarted by a group that didn’t seem to even understand proper fortification. Still, there was some good news to be taken from this. Glimmer had at least made it to Bright Moon after all. She was in rebel hands, and probably receiving the best care available for… whatever it was that was affecting her. Package confirmed delivered, mission accomplished, time to go home. 

She sat hidden in the trees for several minutes just repeating that to herself and looking over the grounds. Then she started heading around towards the back of the castle to look for a way in. 

“I’ve got to be out of my mind,” she muttered to herself. “… _Again.”_

* * *

Catra blinked in confusion. Then she rubbed her eyes, blinked again, and even tried pinching herself a few times just to see if there was any chance that she was dreaming.

There was a knotted rope leading from the bottom of the castle right up into an open window in one of the upper towers. 

Catra stared at it. It was a trap. It _had_ to be a trap. It was the most obviously ridiculously trapy trap in the history of traps. It had to be, because the alternative was just too brain meltingly stupid to even be considered. There was no possible way, in all of Etheria, that _anyone_ would leave such an open invitation to be infiltrated. It was ludicrous. Completely insane. 

And yet, Catra thought as she looked up at the open window and gave the rope an experimental tug, who was she to judge?

* * *

The climb had been a decent work out. She had elected to make some attempt at strategy and had forgone the rope and simply scaled the wall with her claws. If they wanted her to come in, then fine. But she was doing it her way. Because that somehow made it less of a stupid idea in her mind.

As she reached the top, Catra peeked up over the windowsill and was taken aback by the room inside. 

The first thing she noticed was its sheer size. It was at least twice as big as the barracks she and Adora had grown up in, if not bigger. The second thing she noticed was that the place was a complete _wreck_. Dressers and cabinets stood with shelves and doors either hanging open, or in some cases torn off and flung across the room. There were scorch marks on the walls, but not from any weapon pattern she could recognize. Books and writing utensils were thrown about like confetti, a few writing quills embedded in the wall like darts, and clothes littered every corner of the floor, ranging from ballgowns and expensive looking silk pajamas, to a few familiar looking purple jumpsuits. 

Catra crept carefully onto the cushioned nook under the window, trying to make sense of the raw destruction. This had to be Glimmer’s room, but it looked like there had been a massive fight. Had she been kidnapped? By who? She would have been amongst the first to hear about any plans to abduct someone as high ranking as a princess. But who else aside from the hoard would do something like this? 

She began looking for clues. Stepping as quietly as she could, Catra made her way around the room, looking for a ransom note, scraps of torn clothing, spent energy cartridges, or _anything_ that might give her some insight into what had happened. 

The first clue came in the form of a silver serving tray that had been placed atop some strewn papers on the desk. The plates and cup were empty, but there was the scent of something positively mouthwatering still lingering faintly around it. She frowned. That was odd; the tray had been clearly used recently, but it was sitting _on top_ of the destruction. Though maybe Glimmer just kept a very messy desk… 

Her next clue came when she examined the rest of the floor. She was very careful to step quietly and carefully around the clothes and debris, but it was clear that others hadn’t been. Clothes were trampled down in places here and there, piled up in spots and cleared away from others, and there was a small path kicked away that led from the desk, to a large door which led (presumably) to the rest of the castle. 

Catra hardly needed the third clue by that point to tell her that her original assessment of the situation might have been a little off. 

“Ugg.”

Catra tensed up at the sound, but then she smiled. She recognized that groan, though curiously it had come from inside the room with her. She turned around, but there was still no one else visible amidst the destruction. Then she heard rustling coming from above her, and noticed a large gold chandelier hanging in the center of the room with what appeared to be the ends of white tapestries hanging from it. 

No, not tapestries, she realized, _bed sheets_. 

Creeping below the chandelier, Catra took aim, crouched low, and leapt smoothly up onto the bed without disturbing it. What she saw inside made her let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. There was Glimmer, laying spread eagled on her back with a pillow over her face, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. She was safe. Not that Catra had been worried or anything.

Even so, she felt a wave of relief wash over her, quickly followed by a wave of irritation for making her _not_ worry herself sick over the oblivious fool. 

“Ruff day?” Catra asked casually from her perch on the edge of the bed, her tail flicking. 

Glimmer groaned again in response and rolled away from her, pulling the cushion off her face as she did so. 

“I mean, how thick can you get!” Glimmer said, throwing the cushion at the door. “I laid it all out for her! Step by step instructions! With pictures and everything! But does she bother to take the hint, nooooo.”

She slapped a hand to her face and rolled onto her back again with another groan. Catra meanwhile had also rolled onto the bed, and was surprised to discover it was the softest, most luxuriously comfortable thing she had ever encountered. 

“Hmmmm,” Catra purred, letting herself simply sink into the soft warm cloud of a bed. 

“I mean, I even left the rope out for her!” Glimmer went on, sitting up and waving towards the window. She turned to look imploringly at Catra. “I don’t know, do you think I should try climbing up to _her_ window? It kind of loses the romance when I can just tele….” 

Glimmer trailed off and her eyes went wide as she realized who her strange bedfellow was. Catra meanwhile was happily purring up a storm as she felt herself drifting off to what was going to be the best cat nap of her life. She was rudely brought back to reality as an overstuffed pillow suddenly walloped her over the head. 

“Ouff, Hey!” 

Catra spat out a few stray feathers and sat up to give Glimmer an indignant glare, which she returned in kind. 

“What are you doing in my room!” she hissed, her voice an angry whisper. 

“Looking for you,” Catra whispered back. 

“Me?” Glimmer echoed, confused. 

“Yes, _you_.” Catra said, reaching out and flicking a claw against Glimmer’s forehead. “You weren’t at the battle today, and tall, broad, and blond seemed to think _I_ did something to you. Which is a joke since _you’re_ the one who hexed _me_.”

“I didn’t _hex_ you,” Glimmer snapped, rubbing the spot where Catra had flicked her. 

“ _Whatever_ you did,” Catra said rolling her eyes. “Adora was acting like you were on your deathbed or something so I…” Catra trailed off and simply waved her hand in a “ _and there you go_ ,” sort of gesture. 

Glimmer gave her a suspicious look. Then a dreadful smirk crept over her lips. 

“You were _worried_ about me?”

“No,” Catra said quickly, looking over at the wall. 

“You were,” Glimmer teased, leaning closer. 

“Oh, grow up,” Catra said, shoving her away. Glimmer smiled and giggled, and Catra almost thought it could have been cute. “So, what’s got Adora’s miniskirt all twisted up for anyway? You seem fine to me. Apart from the warzone motif you’ve got going on downstairs,” she added, looking over the side of the bed. 

“I _am_ fine,” Glimmer groaned. “Nobody else seems to believe me though. I mean, yeah I passed out as soon as I crossed the bridge and saw mom coming to meet me, but it’s not like that’s the first time that’s happened!” 

“Battle fatigue, it happens,” Catra agreed, shrugging. 

“Exactly! So I happened to sleep for a day or three this time. That’s normal after what we went through, isn’t it?”

“That… maybe a _bit_ excessive,” Catra said, giving her a slightly concerned look. 

Glimmer groaned. 

“Whatever. I’m _fine_!” she insisted, throwing her hands up for emphasis. As she did so, all the pillows around them, including the one Catra was sitting on, suddenly glowed purple and shot up towards the ceiling. Catra yelped as her seat flew out from under her and she was sent tumbling backwards over the side of the bed. Fortunately, Catra always landed on her feet. She landed neatly on all fours on a pile of ruined clothes, and looked up to see Glimmer’s head shoot into view over the side of the bed. Catra stared up at her, eyebrows raised in a silent demand of explanation. 

“Um,” Glimmer said sheepishly. “Did I mention I also seem to have developed some new powers? And I’ve been labeled as a danger to myself and others until we can figure them out?”

“You probably could have led with that one, yeah?” Catra said, standing up. 

“…Sorry.” 

There was a flash of glitter and Glimmer appeared standing next to her, brushing her off as she explained. 

“They just sort of… _happened_ after I woke up. At first it was just little things. My sparkles having a bit more oomph to them, stuff rolling into my hand when I reached for it, nothing I actually gave any thought too. Then when Bow and I were training one day, I started deflecting his arrows before they even reached me.” 

She began pacing around the room while Catra watched curiously. 

“I mean, I thought it was something to do with my dad’s staff at first. Like I thought, maybe we woke up some new power in it while you were borrowing it to smash up those First One’s bugs. But then I kind of, sort of, sent a plate of salad flying at one of the servants when I tried waving at him for more water and…”

“Nice,” Catra said, folding her arms, clearly amused.

Glimmer glared at her and the silver platter on the desk went flying at Catra’s head. Her feline reflexes saved her again and she ducked out of the way, just missing being decapitated by the dinnerware as it lodged itself into the wall behind her. 

“Sorry!” Glimmer gasped and ran over to her. “Oh my stars, I am so sorry! I swear I didn’t mean to do that, I just…”

“It’s fine,” Catra said, though she was clearly a little shaken. “Nothing that hasn’t happened before growing up with Shadow Weaver.” 

This was clearly not the right thing to say as Glimmer suddenly buried her face in her hands and let out a sound halfway between a groan and a sob. 

“What’s happening to me?”

“Uh..” Catra held out a hand, unsure if she would be welcome to touch Glimmer, or if it was even safe to try. 

Deciding that she still had a few lives left, Catra awkwardly patted her on the back. When no more dinner ware came flying at her, she steeled herself and pulled Glimmer into a hug. “Just calm down,” Catra said, awkwardly trying to rub her back comfortingly. “Just… breathe. Or something.” 

Glimmer had been shocked by Catra’s sudden hug, but then gave a laugh as she realized what she was doing. Catra was trying to imitate what Glimmer had done for her when they had first woken up in the temple. 

“We’ll have to work on your bedside manner,” she said, returning the hug gratefully. 

“Shut up,” Catra mumbled into her shoulder. “And we’re _under_ the bed for your information.”


	3. Catching Up

“There’s something I think I should tell you,” Glimmer said nervously. 

Catra lazily opened one eye to look over at her. They were back in Glimmer’s bed. Glimmer had been a bit confused and concerned when Catra had suggested they continue their conversation there, but Catra had been quick to point out that it offered both an easy and reliable hiding place for her should someone come in, and if Glimmer’s magic started acting up again, the worse damage she could do was hit her with a couple of pillows. The fact that Catra was quickly falling in love with the bed had nothing to do with it. 

“I didn’t tell Adora anything,” Glimmer went on quietly. “But after my powers started going crazy I… I told my mom. _Most_ of it anyway. She’s the only one who might know what’s happening to me, and… we’ve kind of been working on our whole trust thing ever since Shadow Weaver kidnapped me.” 

“Um, I think if you’ll remember, _I’m_ the one who kidnapped you,” Catra corrected her. She would have lifted a finger to point at herself for emphasis, but any motivation to move appeared to have been sucked away by the bed. 

Glimmer gave her a flat look. “For your own sake, I’m trying to overlook some of your previous accomplishments tonight.” 

“Hey, how many people can say they were captured, and then rescued by the same person?” Catra replied with a grin. 

“…Anyway,” Glimmer continued. “I told her what happened down in the temple, and I made her promise not to tell anyone else, especially Adora.”

“Hmmm.” Catra said, yawning. “And what did her Royal High Magnificence have to say about that?” 

Glimmer gave her another glare and Catra felt the pillow under her head begin to shudder. She sat up quickly, turning and throwing her arms up to protect her face. When nothing happened after a second or two, she peeked over her guard and saw the purple glow surrounding the pillow fade away. Glimmer gave her a mischievous giggle. 

“She said she’d keep it a secret, but until we figure out what’s going on, I should stay in my room and try to get some control over these new powers.”

“Seems to me your figuring it out just fine,” Catra grumbled and flopped back onto the pillows. 

Glimmer’s face fell a little and she looked up at the ceiling. 

“Not really…” She reached a hand out above her. A few sparkles appeared and began to dance along her fingertips. “It’s like… it’s like I suddenly sprouted a couple extra limbs, but I don’t know how to move them yet, or what they’re even for. It just seems so totally random. Sometimes I send plates and furniture flying across the room if I get excited, other times my sparkles turn into tiny fireballs. I’ve done a bunch of other weird things without meaning too. Yesterday I’m pretty sure I turned my milk into orange juice.” 

“Wow, such incredible power,” Catra said dryly, watching the light show. “I better be careful you don’t turn my ration bars into something that’s actually edible.”

“I’m serious,” Glimmer said rolling over and propping herself up. “I have no idea what I might do next! I might start breathing fire or turn everything I touch into gold! Or maybe my wings will grow out and I’ll start flying!”

“You know, I can’t help but feel that you’re a bit more excited about these possibilities than you are worried,” Catra observed. “…Wait, you have wings?”

“I’ve just… I’ve got so many questions!” Glimmer went on. “How did this happen? When will it stop? _Where_ will it stop? Am I gonna become like a… Princess of _Super_ Power or something?” She gasped suddenly. “Do you think this is happening to the other princess’s too? Could this have something to do with the Runestone apocalypse and now we’re _all_ getting extra powers?” 

“I hope not,” Catra said. “The last thing I need is an even more powerful Adora trying to blast me into next week.” She thought for a moment and added, “Which I still don’t understand. Why is she acting like this is all _my_ fault?”

“Oh,” Glimmer said, looking away with a guilty grimace. “Well, after I got back I thought I’d try, um, playing hard to get to get her attention?”

Catra groaned and slapped a hand over her face. 

“And then my powers started acting up, and, well… she seems to think that you kidnapped me, and mind wiped me into becoming a double agent or something.” 

There was a moment of silence. Then Catra burst out laughing. 

“It’s not funny!” Glimmer said, hitting her with a pillow again. “She thinks I’m some kind of hoard spy that’s out to get her now because I accidently magicked some stuff at her when I saw her working out in the courtyard! I’m lucky my mom and Bow believe me, or the whole rebellion would think I was under hoard mind control!”

“Oh, this is perfect,” Catra said in between her laughter. “ _I’m_ the one who gets hexed, but _you’re_ the one who gets accused of switching sides!” Her laughter subsided into quiet giggles. 

“I didn’t _hex_ you,” Glimmer repeated. “And I’m glad you find this all so funny. This has thrown all the progress I’ve made with her right out the window. She was supposed to be coming through my window tonight! I had this whole plan and everything, and it was going to be super romantic…”

“I told you, forget about anything subtle,” Catra said, settling back down into the bed and closing her eyes. “Complicated plans and playing hard to get isn’t going to get you anywhere with her. You gotta be blunt about it, and use lots of-“

“Lots of pictures and diagrams,” Glimmer finished, rolling her eyes. “I know, I know. And I did! I even left step by step instructions for her! Look!” 

Catra heard Glimmer teleport away and then begin searching the room, over turning this and shaking out that, all while muttering to herself and generally making as much noise as possible. Catra sighed and grabbed a pillow to shove over her head. 

“Found it!” Glimmer called up finally. Catra merely flipped the end of her tail over the side of the bed, and began idly flicking it in a clearly annoyed fashion. “Come on. Get down here before I have to explain to Adora why there’s cat hair all over my bed the next time she comes to check for hidden cameras or whatever.” 

While Catra had absolutely no desire to _ever_ leave the bed, (she was even toying with the idea of defecting right then and there if it meant getting one for herself,) she couldn’t ignore the risk of Adora finding out about her visit.

With a grumpy huff, Catra hauled herself over the side and dropped down into Glimmer’s somehow even messier room. Glimmer herself was smiling proudly next to a still standing closet that had somehow managed to escape the worst of her magical backlash. She was holding what looked like some kind of tech manual, or grimoire. Though Catra had never seen either with a painted picture of two rather dopy looking people making kissy faces at each other on the cover. 

“What is that?” Catra asked, taking the book and turning it over to examine it. 

“It’s an old book of fairy tales,” Glimmer said. “I grew up with my mom reading them to me. So did Bow, and pretty much everyone else in the rebellion.” 

“Huh,” Catra said, flipping through the small book. Judging by the table of contents it was a sort of anthology of short stories and legends. There were also a lot of brightly colored pictures in the book. In fact, there was one almost every other page. She had never seen such beautiful artwork before, though she wasn’t sure if that made her want to sigh wistfully, or just gag.

“I left a copy in Adora’s room with the story of Rapunzen bookmarked in it. It’s about a captured prince who lives in a tower, so he grows his hair out really long. Then this princess comes a long one day, and she climbs it and-”

“Mhmm,” Catra interrupted, snapping the book shut. “So basically, you gave her a guide on how to confess to you.”

“Exactly!” Glimmers said, taking the book back and tapping on it triumphantly. “With pictures and everything. But she _still_ doesn’t get it!”

Catra crossed her arms and gave Glimmer a penetrating look. 

“Maybe that’s because _she’s_ not the one who needs to confess?”

Glimmer froze. She looked back at Catra, her mouth opening and closing silently like a gaping fish. Catra just sighed. 

“I told you, _you’re_ going to have to be the one to make the first move. Hint as much as you want, flirt with her every chance you get, she will _never_ catch on.”

Glimmer lifted a finger to protest, then dropped it, looking defeated.

“Look,” Catra said, snatching the book back and dangling it in front of Glimmer’s face. “Either stay in your fairy tails and lose your chance like I did, or get over yourself and tell her point blank you want to kiss her face off every time she does that cute little awkward grin of hers. …Or better yet just kiss her and save yourself an hour of trying to explain the process.” 

Glimmer huffed.

“I’m sure Adora knows what a _kiss_ is,” she said, rolling her eyes and grabbing the book back. She walked back over to the closet she had taken it from. Then paused, before looking worriedly back at Catra. “I mean, she has too. Right?”

“Adora and I once walked in on two cadets making out in the locker room. Arm’s all over each other, pressed up against the wall, completely oblivious to us and the rest of the world. I had to clear my throat twice before they noticed us.” 

“So she does know,” Glimmer said, relieved.

Catra’s eyes narrowed and her tail twitched. 

“Adora informed them they were practicing CPR wrong and proceeded to walk them through the correct way to do it.” 

Glimmer gaped at her. 

“No...”

Catra held up a hand.

“Cat’s honor.”

Glimmer put a hand to her head and teetered dangerously for a minute before teleporting over to the windowsill and sitting down. She looked like she was about to pass out as she said, her voice barely a whisper of abject horror and disbelief,

“Oh stars, I’m in love with an idiot.” 

“Look, it’s not _totally_ hopeless,” Catra said going over to sit down next to her. “At least you don’t have Shadow Weaver threatening to rip out your fondest memories moment by moment if you dare corrupt her prized pupil.” 

“No,” Glimmer agreed softly, taking a deep steadying breath. “I just have to worry about doing something that’ll screw up the whole foundation of the rebellion and destroying the Princess Alliance. _Again_.” 

Catra frowned. 

“My point is, this is gonna be way easier for you than it was for me. Just suck it up, put on your big girl pants, tell her how you feel and ask her out on a proper date.”

Glimmer bit her lip anxiously. Then in a quiet voice she asked,

“But what if she says no?”

Catra gently took Glimmer’s face in her hands, and turned her so they were looking at each other face to face. 

“Then she’s an even bigger idiot than either of us thought, and you deserve someone better,” she said with complete seriousness. “We both do!” 

Glimmer laughed a little and pulled away to wipe her eyes. It was a slightly hollow laugh, but not entirely. 

“I guess.” 

Catra harrumphed and folded her arms. Glimmer hummed and sat back so she could turn and look out the window at the night’s sky. The two of them sat together in a comfortable silence. Then, just as Catra decided she should really start heading back, Glimmer said,

“I asked her about you by the way. Right after I woke up.”

“Did you now?” Catra asked, looking around the room in an attempt to feign disinterest. After a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, she added, “What did she say?”

“Nothing,” Glimmer said, still looking out the window. “She didn’t seem to want to talk about you at all. She never really talks about anything from her old life in the hoard, unless it’s relevant to the mission, but she actually changed the subject when I asked about you.” 

“Hmmm,” Catra said, not sure how else to respond. 

Her tail tapped restlessly against their seat. She noticed Glimmer turn to look at it, and poured all her will into forcing it to lay still. Glimmer looked up at her curiously, and Catra turned her attention to looking around the destroyed room again. Which left her tail to start tapping again. 

Glimmer giggled and pulled her legs up so she could rest her head on her knees. She smiled at Catra. 

“You said we deserve better,” she asked. “Who’s your ‘ _better_?”

She was probably expecting some stuttering, blushing excuse to change the topic, but Catra’s reply came quick and easily. 

“Me.”

Glimmer blinked and straightened up. 

“You?”

“Yeah, _me_.” Catra repeated, turning to Glimmer and jabbing a thumb at herself. “The only reason Adora was always number one when we were growing up was because she was the favorite, and I was the outcast. Now I’m out of her shadow everyone is finally seeing that I’m the _real_ number one. Including me,” she added looking away, her ears flattening. 

“Catra…” Glimmer began, but Catra shook her head and went on. 

“I’m _better_ than her. A better fighter, a better leader, a better _everything_. And I’m going to prove it. I’m going to _make_ her see that I don’t need her, even if I have to end this damn war myself.” 

“ _Without_ murdering us and enslaving all of Etheria, right?” Glimmer reminded her. 

Catra rolled her eyes. 

“I _guess_.”

“ _Catra_ ,” Glimmer said warningly.

She watched her nervously for a few seconds until Catra caught her looking and stuck out her tongue. 

“Seriously, you need to learn to lighten up, Sparkles.”

“Hey! I am like, the literal embodiment of lightening up!”

“Mhmmm, sure.”

Glimmer opened her mouth to argue further, then realized she was being baited and crossed her arms with a harrumph. She shook her head.

“What am I doing,” she grumbled. “What are _you_ doing?”

“Huh?” Catra asked, sitting up.

“I should be calling the guards, or teleporting you into a holding cell or something. Not complaining to you about my love life!” 

“Or lack thereof,” Catra replied with a grin. 

Glimmer didn’t play along this time. She gave Catra a long searching stare.

“What are you doing here, Catra?” she asked quietly. “ _Really_?”

For some reason, hearing Glimmer say her name like that made her feel… something. It just sounded weird coming from her, and it made Catra fidget in her seat. It wasn’t _bad_ necessarily, but it suddenly seemed very… intimate. 

“I told you. Adora made it seem like something happened to you, and she was blaming me for it.”

“You snuck out of the Fright Zone, through the entire Whispering Woods, right into the heart of the rebellion headquarters, just to see if I was okay?”

“Well, I mean…” Catra said, scratching the back of her head. “It’s not like it was exactly _difficult_ to sneak in here. Seriously, you all need to do night patrols or something. I don’t think I ran into another living person on my way here. Or any dead one’s either now I think about it. I mean you could at least put up a ‘ **Stay Out, Beware of She-Ra** ’ sign or something,” she added looking out at the grounds. 

“I’ll… bring that up at the next meeting,” Glimmer said uncertainly. “But you didn’t answer my question.” 

Catra paused as her tail flicked this way and that. She had a choice. She could either be completely honest, or she could try to lie to both Glimmer and herself. She could also just jump out the window, but then Adora would probably be the one to find her broken body, and there would be awkward questions, and Scorpia would get worried, and… 

She sighed. Well, it had worked with Entrapta. 

“Yes,” Catra said, turning to look Glimmer in the eye. “I was worried about you. After what happened in the temple, I feel like you’re important to me. I don’t know why, but ever since then I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. I don’t know if it’s your magic, or just me getting some actual sense knocked into me, but my life is better now, because of you. I tried what you said about solving problems without anger, and since then I saved my relationship with Entrapta and Scorpia. I’ve got friends now. _Real_ friends. And I’m trying to _be_ a friend too, as lame as that sounds. But it feels good! You changed something inside of me,” she said, putting a hand over her own chest. “I’m a different person now because I met you, and to be honest, I don’t think I’d rather be anyone else.” 

Glimmer stared back at her, her cheeks blushed, her mouth slightly open, and one hand curled over her own chest. Catra looked back with pure sincerity. The two looked at each other in silence. Then Catra’s brow furrowed. Slowly, she leaned closer and asked,

“Hey, do you smell smoke?”

Glimmer blinked, then she realized the hand she didn’t have held to her chest felt uncomfortably warm. She yelped and shot up from her seat. The instant she pulled her hand away, blue and yellow flames sprung up from the cushioned window seat.

“Whoa!”

The two of them stared in wonder at the admittedly beautiful flames dancing between them. Catra was the first to come to her senses, and began frantically trying to beat the fires out with her bare hands. 

“Stop!” Glimmer reached forward, presumably to stop Catra from setting fire to herself, but the second she opened her hands a blast of freezing wind burst from them. The winds washed over both the seat and Catra, covering both in a thin layer of frost, and immediately putting out the fire. 

Glimmer stared at her hands in wonder. 

“Whoa…”

“Brrrrrrr!” Catra said, violently shaking herself free of the frost. “Ech! I hate cold and wet!” 

“Sorry,” Glimmer mumbled as she raised her arms to shield herself. “I just… I didn’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

“Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but I think next time you should try a fire blanket instead,” Catra said, rubbing her arms while her teeth chattered. “Actually, if this place is going to be your new testing lab for you, you really ought to get some safety equipment set up. At least some safety goggles and face protection. Actually, a blast cage might not be a bad idea either…”

Glimmer stared at her for a second before bursting out into laughter.

“…What?” Catra asked, cautiously.

“When did you become such a _nerd_?” she wheezed, pointing at Catra as she doubled over.

Catra’s ear’s flattened and her face took on a soured expression. “H-hey, I’ve been doing safety audits for the last two weeks! And proper lab safety is serious-”

“ _Nerd_!” Glimmer proclaimed again, and collapsed into another fit of giggles. “Oh my stars, I bet you learned half those words from Entrapta.”

“Sh-shut up,” Catra grumbled, folding her arms and swishing her tail angrily as Glimmer continued to laugh at her. She huffed and stepped up onto the windowsill. “Well, not that this hasn’t been fun, but I better be getting back to the other side of the war.”

“Huh?” Glimmer said looking up. “Oh, yeah.” Her giggles stopped and she stood up, brushing herself off. “Yeah, I… guess you better, huh?”

“Yep,” Catra said looking down at the rope. The ground suddenly looked like it was a very long way down.

The two waited silently for a minute, then Catra took a breath and reached for the rope as she said,

“Later.”

“Wait!” 

There was a flash of purple, and the next second Glimmer’s hand was holding Catra’s wrist. She looked up and saw Glimmer’s face just inches from her own. 

“Yes?” was all she could say. 

Missmatched eyes searched brown as she waited for Glimmer’s response. 

“I… Um. I just wanted to say...” Glimmer stammered. She held Catra’s gaze for a moment. Then, for some reason, her eyes dropped a little, and she seemed to be staring at Catra’s lips. This naturally pulled Catra’s focus to look at hers as well. They were standing so close, they could almost taste each other’s breath, if either of them had been able to breathe in that moment. 

“What you said before,” Glimmer said. Catra more saw the words then heard them, and she unconsciously licked her own lips as she watched Glimmer’s. Was it just her imagination, or were those lips slowly getting closer? “It really… made me think about…”

They were interrupted by a loud knock at the door, followed by a dignified, feminine voice calling,

“Glimmer? Are you in there?”

“Mom!” Glimmer gasped.

“Mom?” Catra repeated, blinking. 

Catra barely had time to process the word before the world very suddenly, and without warning, turned upside down and inside out in a flash of purple sparkles. For the next few fractions of a second, Catra experienced the very unsettling sensation of not existing in the physical world. It wasn’t exactly a bad feeling per say, it was rather akin to floating in a warm pool. Minus the uncomfortable feeling of being wet, or the threat of drowning, or the horrible nausea that usually came with being around any body of water bigger than a mop bucket.

Before Catra had time to come to terms with her sudden nonexistence, she was rudely shoved back _into_ existence, though in a different place and posture than the one she had previously been occupying. The lack of nausea had apparently been due only to her not having a stomach. As she grabbed her head and struggled to figure out which way was the floor so she knew where to throw up, she heard the creak of a door opening. Then she felt a hand shove her sideways, sending her off balance and toppling over.

Catra felt herself tumble into something soft and bulky, before colliding with something very hard and sturdy behind it. The door slammed shut behind her, nearly catching her tail, and plunging her into near total darkness. She sank to her knees and put a hand over her mouth while she tried to stop her head from spinning. In the darkness, she heard Glimmer’s voice awkwardly announce,

“Hey! Mom. Uh, what’s up?”


	4. Hide and Sneeze

Glimmer smiled what she hoped was her most innocent and unassuming grin as her mother stood awkwardly peering in from the doorway to her room.

“I wanted to have a word with you,” Queen Angella said distractedly looking around at the destruction. “Is everything all right?”

“Huh? Oh yeah! Yep. Everything’s a-okay here. Yep. No problems here.” Then following her mother’s gaze around the room, she added, “You know, apart from… you know.”

“Indeed,” Angella said, looking worriedly at the glinting silver serving tray half embedded in the wall. “May I come in?”

“Huh, sure. I mean,” Glimmer corrected herself quickly. “Ah, no. No, not really a good time actually. Powers’ going on the fritz again, probably not safe to be around me right now. I just set fire to the window actually!” she said, gesturing to the small blackened spot on the frost covered window seat. “Very dangerous right now, wouldn’t want you to get hurt. So if you could just come back another time…” 

Glimmer started to close the door, but Angella put a hand up to stop it. 

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, Glimmer. If I can withstand an entire hoard battalion, I’m sure I can handle whatever my own daughter can throw at me.” 

* * *

‘ _Famous last words,_ ’ Catra thought to herself as she watched through the keyhole. 

She had recovered from the teleportation considerably faster than she had from that awful boat Scorpia kept taking them out on. Judging by the various fuzzy sweaters that had broken her fall, Glimmer had thrown her into the last unwrecked closet she had. Why she hadn’t just let Catra go out the window six inches away, she could only guess. 

For now, all she could do was stay low, keep quiet, and keep her eye to the keyhole while Glimmer got rid of _her majesty_. She watched as Queen Angella stepped into view in the center of the room. As Angella frowned and winced at the more recent damage, Glimmer appeared next to her wearing a grin even Scorpia would think was suspicious. 

It took all of Catra’s will power not to groan in despair. 

“You’re looking well,” Queen Angella said, carefully eyeing her daughter up and down. 

“Yep,” Glimmer said brightly. She flexed in the same way Adora did when she was trying to avoid being put on bedrest. “Never better!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Angella said, raising an eyebrow, though it was accompanied by a fond smile as well. “And how are you coming along… magically?”

“Oh, you know, an odd fireball here and there. But I’m really starting to get the hang of the levitation thing. Watch!” 

‘ _Oh no_.’

Glimmer raised her hand and pointed her open palm at a pile of clothes in the far corner of the room. They quickly began to glow, and Glimmer raised her hand as if conducting an orchestra. The entire room erupted into a small tornado. Angella instantly surrounded herself and her daughter in a magic barrier, while Catra sunk her claws into the doors as deep as she could and strained with all her might to keep them from flying open in the sudden gale. 

The storm lasted only a few seconds, and quickly settled back into the same chaos it had been in prior, just with everything moved a few feet clockwise.

As Angella lowered the shield, Glimmer gave an awkward chuckle. 

“Uh, like I said, it’s still a work in progress.”

Angella took a deep sigh.

“Indee… Ah…” She suddenly paused mid syllable, her face contorted in a strange grimace. 

Glimmer stared at her mother.

“Mom? Are you-” she started to ask, but before she could finish, Angella suddenly and _violently_ sneezed!

“ _Achoo!_ ”

The force of it caused her wings to flair out and her whole body to lift a foot or so off the ground, leaving her looking slightly disheveled when she landed. Glimmer recoiled and gaped at her mother in shock. Angella blinked, and seemed just as surprised as her daughter.

“Did you just _sneeze_?” Glimmer asked after a moment. 

Angella coughed once and quickly patted down her clothes to straighten them back out. 

“Indeed,” she answered simply. 

“But… you never sneeze! Are you okay?”

“Of course I _sneeze_ ,” Angella said, waving a hand dismissively, though even from where Catra was hiding she could see a blush rising on the Queen’s cheeks. “Everyone sneezes from time to time Glimmer. It’s nothing to… ruffle you’re feathers over,” she finished miserably. 

“Are you sure you’re alright,” Glimmer asked again, going over to her mother and putting a hand to her forehead. 

Angella gently swatted the hand away. Catra rolled her eyes and turned away from the keyhole to mime gagging. She may have been slowly becoming more in tune with her emotions since Glimmer brought her back to her senses, but she drew the line at all this mushy family stuff.

“I assure you Glimmer I am perfectly fine. However, I believe your demonstration just now has confirmed my suspicions,” Angella said carefully. “I believe I know the origin of your new powers.” 

Catra’s ears perked up and she was back at the keyhole in an instant. Unfortunately, in her haste, her nose brushed against a particularly fuzzy sweater with the words “Etheria’s Best Niece” knitted across the chest. 

It tickled.

* * *

“Really?” Glimmer asked, “I mean, you know what’s happening to me?”

“Well,” Angella said, moving over to take a seat at the windowsill. “To be accurate, I know what it… what it… ah, achoo!” Queen Angella sneezed again, though she seemed to keep more control this time.

“What it isn’t,” Angella finished, sounding somewhat nasally. 

“Mom are you sure you’re okay?” Glimmer asked, after grabbing a semi clean silk napkin off one of the overturned chairs and taking a seat next to her. 

Angella took the napkin and quickly and royally wiped her nose with a nod. 

“As I was saying, I have determined conclusively what your powers are not. I have spent nearly every moment I could pouring over our family records, and I can say with certainty that no princess of Bright Moon has ever demonstrated abilities such as you have been exhibiting. As you know, a princess of power’s, er, _power_ is drawn from their runestone. Each Runestone presides over a particular element of Etheria, and a princess of power draws her strength from that element, and that element alone. These new powers of yours seem to fly in the face of that rule, however. A whirlwind could hardly be attributed to the moonstone.”

“Okay,” Glimmer asked, tilting her head to one side. “But if that’s the case what does teleporting have to do with the moon?” 

“Well, the moonstone maybe… slightly mislabeled,” Queen Angella said with an uncomfortable frown. “Our dominion is over all forms of light, be it moonlight, the rays of the sun, or the glow of the smallest candle. Your power manifests as light’s ability to be everywhere at once. And, of course, the ability to manifest light itself at your fingertips.”

Glimmer looked down at her hand and a few sparkles played across her fingers. 

“Huh, I guess I never thought about it like that before.”

Angella put her hand over her daughter’s and smiled. 

“I should have explained this all to you long ago, but between the war and my own… regrets, I’m afraid I haven’t been the best mentor to you that I should have been. Or mother,” she added down cast. 

“Yeah, well, I haven’t exactly been a model daughter either,” Glimmer said, rubbing the back of her head. 

Angella took her daughter’s face in her hands.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better heir to the throne.” 

Mother and daughter smiled at each other as they let themselves enjoy the moment together.

* * *

Back inside the closet, tears were burning in Catra’s eyes. Not from the “mushy” display going on outside, (which she had almost completely missed) but from the effort of trying to hold in the sneeze fighting to burst forth from her own nose and quite literally blow her cover. 

She couldn’t even use her hands to cover her mouth or rub her face to alleviate it. In her panic to keep the doors shut during the windstorm, she had dug her claws in too deeply into the wood and had gotten them stuck! Her attempts at freeing herself had only resulted in accidentally brushing her nose up against another of those damnable sweaters again and making her nose even worse. Her face and jaw convulsed with the effort, and she silently swore that when she overthrew Hordak and became the sole ruler of the Fright Zone, her first decree would be a conquest to destroy every woolen sweater in existence.

Then she stopped. Through sheer force of will, she made herself be still and slowly took a deep shaky breath through her nose. She would not be undone by this. She was Catra, the youngest force commander in history. She had brought the Rebellion’s greatest warrior to her knees on more than one occasion. She had bested armies, First One’s monsters, even Shadow Weaver herself. She was the most accomplished warrior of her generation, and had complete control over her mind and body. She was disciplined. She would not sneeze. 

The tickling sensation began to dissipate. She breathed in a deep sigh of satisfaction through her loosening nose. 

And inhaled a tiny fuzzy that had shaken loose from one of the sweaters.

* * *

“So, if these powers aren’t related to my Princess powers, where did they come from?” Glimmer asked.

Angella gave her a sad smile. 

“My dear Glimmer,” she said, cupping her daughter’s cheek. “I think you sometimes forget that I was not your only parent.”

Glimmer’s eyes lit up and she looked down at her hands in awe. 

“You mean, these are _Dad’s_ powers?”

“I believe so,” Angella said, also looking down at Glimmer’s hands. “Your father may have preferred to rely on his own physical prowess in a fight, but he was still heir to the most powerful school of sorcery in Etheria. Which,” she added reluctantly, “means that in order to understand that power, I’m afraid there’s only one person we can turn to.”

Glimmer looked up at Angella in confusion. Then her eyes went wide with horror. 

“Oh no, you don’t mean…”

Angella nodded begrudgingly. 

“I’m afraid so. I spent most of this afternoon pouring over every possible magical teacher we might higher instead, but I’m afraid in both skill and familiarity with whatever branch of magic you might be exhibiting, there is simply no one better suited.” 

Glimmer swallowed, and her mother patted her gently on the shoulder. 

“I’ll write to her tonight,” Angella said. Glimmer started to speak up in protest, but Angella held up a hand. “No. No, she’s been writing to me for years, and it’s… it is high time I wrote her back. I may never have been particularly close with her, but in truth I just… I haven’t known how to face her since… since I…” 

Angella took a shaky breath and Glimmer took her by the hand. 

“She wants to talk to you,” Glimmer said. “She asks about you every time I visit. Maybe it would be good for you both to talk about what happened? Clear the air a little. I mean, look at what it did for us?” 

She gave her mother an awkward smile and Angella offered a soft chuckle in return. 

“Perhaps you’re-”

“ _Achoo!_ ” 

The sneeze was quiet, but it rang through the room like a gunshot. Angella blinked and looked around. Glimmer for her part managed to keep her face completely neutral. Though beads of sweat began to form on her brow. 

“What was that?” Angella asked, looking around.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Glimmer replied. 

“ _Achoo_!” said the closet. 

“I didn’t hear that either,” Glimmer added. 

“Who’s in there?” Angella demanded, standing up and crossing over to the closet. “Stand and avail yourself, by order of the queen of Bright Moon.” 

A now familiar sensation of panic began to well up in Glimmer’s chest. If her mother discovered Catra hiding in her closet, that was it for _both_ of them. Catra was dead if she was caught here. Glimmer knew Catra didn’t stand a chance against her mother one on one, And she somehow doubted her mother, or anyone else in the Rebellion would be willing to forgive Catra for all the bloodshed and destruction she’d left in her wake during her time as “Mad Cat of the Hoard.” 

Of course, her mother had never been able to catch _Glimmer_. But even if Catra did manage to escape, with or without Glimmer’s help, her mother’s trust in her would be completely shattered. Allowing a known and feared officer of the hoard into her bedroom was something you only got away with once. She’d be labeled as a traitor to her own kingdom, and then Adora would start saying she was mind controlled again and that would _really_ set things back in their relationship. 

Glimmer felt something surging up from deep inside her chest again. That strange power she had called forth in the cave. For a split second, Glimmer felt the magic of her father’s blood line swell within her. But what could she do with it? She had no idea what that magic was even capable of, and Angella was already reaching for the closet handle. Without thinking, Glimmer reached out and screamed the first desperate thing that came to mind. 

“It’s a cat!”

Several strange things happened at once. First, Glimmer felt her father’s power surge from her chest into her outstretched hand. It came out as a soft puff of sparkling mist that seemed to evaporate into the air, leaving that strange empty feeling in her chest again. Second was a faint purple glow that flashed in the keyhole of the closet. Though this went largely unnoticed as the last strange thing was that Queen Angella suddenly leapt back nearly eight feet across the room completely without the aid of her wings, recoiling from the closet like it was about to attack. 

“A, a c-cat!?” Angella stammered in horror, quickly bringing her hand up to cover her mouth and nose. 

"Um, yes!" Glimmer said quickly. "A cat. I, uh, got lonely what with everyone else out fighting and all and I... Mom, are you okay?"

Angella took her hand away and quickly straightened herself out before turning to face her daughter. "Yes dear I am fine. However, I believe I have made it quite clear you are not allowed to have any non-talking animals inside the castle."

"Um, I know. I was just… lonely...” Glimmer said distractedly as she watched her mother’s gaze repeatedly darting over to the closet every few seconds as if afraid it might explode. “…Mom, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," Angella said shortly. "I just… I just remembered there's some important matters of court that need to be attended to before bed. If you'll excuse me." And with that she nearly sprinted for the door. 

Once she was over the threshold of the room, she took a deep breath and seemed to relax. Then she turned back around again. 

"I apologize for that... reaction," Angella said, and Glimmer could tell that her mother was choosing her words very carefully. "However, I must ask that you find a new home for your new... friend. First thing in the morning. If not earlier."

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure absolutely. " Glimmer said, not believing that they were actually getting away with this. "I'm pretty sure she's already got a home anyway. She was just visiting. I'll let her out before I go to bed."

Glimmer smiled and gestured towards her bedroom window. The one which led to a thirty story drop into a moat. If Angella was at all bothered by this, her face betrayed nothing. 

"Very well," Angella said, reaching for the door. "And I think it would be best to have the servants give your room a good thorough cleaning tomorrow too. It's getting a bit messy in here, quite unbecoming of a princess. Oh," Angella paused with the door only half shut. "And I think we'd best have them wash all the clothes in that closet too. And the carpets and drapes as well. You know, why don’t we just see about getting you a whole new wardrobe actually, throw out all that old musty stuff?"

"Huh?"

"Spring cleaning dear," Angella replied. "Anyway, must go, good night."

And with that Angella quickly shut the door. A second later another loud sneeze could be heard from beyond it, followed by retreating footsteps and angry muttering and snuffling. 

"Spring cleaning?" Glimmer repeated, looking around her still destroyed bedroom. "But it's autumn?" 

She shrugged off the thought and turned towards the closet. 

"She's gone, I think it's safe to come out now." 

The closet remained completely still and silent. 

"I said, she's gone," Glimmer repeated, walking over to the closet. She grabbed hold of the handle and with only a _bit_ of effort managed to wrench it open. "Come on scaredy caaaaaahuh?"

Glimmer stared. Then she rubbed her eyes and blinked. Then she blinked again and continued to stare open mouthed at the contents of her closet. 

Catra was gone. All there was in the closet were several copies of her normal attire, a few ballgowns, her aunt’s sweaters, and a slightly scrawny looking orange tabby cat that glared up at her with mismatched blue and yellow eyes. 

"Uuuuuuuuuuuh." Glimmer said.

"Meowr?" asked the cat. It’s tone however clearly said,

_‘ **Now** what did you do to me?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second half will be out very soon, but for now don't forget to leave a comment and kudos! Merry Glitramass to all!


	5. Catra: Now in fun size!

Catra was not having a good day. 

This was fair. She was evil. You didn't burn a village or seven to the ground and then get to act surprised when karma came and kicked you in the teeth. That would be insane, and insanity was a “been there, done that” kind of thing with Catra now. 

Being turned into a cat though, that was new. 

As Glimmer panicked and began apologizing and promising that she would fix this, and this was definitely only temporary and certainly nothing to panic over, Catra got to her four feet and nimbly hopped down to examine herself in the mirror attached to the inside of the closet door. 

She had never actually seen a cat before. Shadow Weaver had described them to her on numerous occasions throughout her childhood, usually focusing on how ugly and disgusting they were. The animal staring back at Catra from the mirror, however, was almost... cute. 

She tilted her head side to side, swishing her tail behind her and walking in a small circle to get a better look at herself. Her coloring and stripes were almost exactly the same as her natural fur when she was a catfolk, and her eyes were still the same mismatched yellow and blue as well. The only part of her normal look that was missing was that damnedable cursed face guard, though some part of it had remained in the form of two black slanting lines on her forehead that mirrored the slits in the head piece. 

All in all, she was still completely unmistakable as Catra. Just in a smaller, travel sized form. 

As she finished examining herself, Glimmer began taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

"Okay," she said finally. "Okay, we can fix this. We can figure this out."

Catra looked over at her. 

"Meowr?"

_‘What do you mean, "we?"_

"Okay, let’s think," Glimmer went on, starting to pace around the room. "You were in the closet, my mom was about to find you, I waved my hand and said, "it's a cat," and then _poof_! You’re a cat. Right. Yeah." Glimmer smiled. "This should be easy." 

Glimmer took one more deep breath before turning back to Catra, who, with nothing better to do, had begun to wash. She stopped mid bath and looked up at her uncertainly.

"Meowr?"

_‘Glimmer?’_

Glimmer's face was set with steely determination. She raised her hand in a fist, closed her eyes, then waved her hand and said,

"You’re a catfolk!"

After a few seconds of absolutely nothing happening, Catra rolled her eyes and went back to her bath. Glimmer opened her eyes and frowned. 

“You’re a catfolk!" she tried again. 

Still nothing. 

"You’re a beastfolk! You’re a person! You’re a Catra?" 

"Meowr?" Catra said, looking up from her bath in annoyance.

_‘What do you mean " **a** " Catra?’_

Glimmer groaned and rubbed her face. 

"Okay, let's try something else." Taking her stance again she proclaimed, "Change back! Undo! Magicus Fixus!" 

"Meowr,"

_‘Take this seriously would you?’_

"No no, I got this." Glimmer insisted. "I got this, I can figure this out."

\------------------1 hour later----------------------

"I don't got this," Glimmer groaned as she collapsed against the window seat. A full hour of everything from "hocus pocus" to "By the power of GraySkull!" and they were no closer. 

Catra popped open an eye from where she had curled up in front of the closet and quickly got to her feet.

"Meowr?"

_‘What? Come on I can't go back to the Fright Zone looking like this!’_

Glimmer sighed and hung her head. 

"I'm sorry, I just don't know how this works!" She looked down at her hands and made a few quick sparkles. "Just when I’m starting to get a grip on being a Princess, now I find out how much I suck as a sorcerer." Glimmer groaned and let her head fall back onto the window seat with a soft _flump_. "Maybe it'll just fix itself if I get some sleep," Glimmer said through a yawn. 

"Meowr! …Meowr.."

_‘When has a nap ever helped anything?! …Well, apart from my sanity in the cave...’_

"Come on, Catra," Glimmer said grumpily. "It's getting close to midnight and it's not like there's anything we can do anyway."

"Meowr!" Catra snapped. 

_‘We can keep trying!’_

Glimmer stood up and frowned at her. 

"Hey, this isn't exactly my fault you know!" 

Catra gave her a flat look. That argument didn’t even deserve a meow. Glimmer glared back.

"I didn't ask for you to come here!"

Surprise and hurt flashed across Catra's feline face. Then she quickly looked at the closet with disinterest again. 

It shouldn't have hurt. She'd never been welcome anywhere in her life. Why should she have thought she'd have been wanted here? 

"Catra I…" Glimmer began. "I didn't mean it like that! I just…"

"Meowr."

_‘Whatever.’_

"No, I didn't mean you shouldn't... I just... urg!"

Glimmer flopped back down on the window seat and let her face fall into her hands. 

Catra continued to watch the inanimate closet for a minute or two before Glimmer's mood became too much for her. As a Catfolk, Catra had always been more intimately aware of the emotions of those around her. She grew up feeling the hatred and scorn of Shadow Weaver like a sunburn whenever she got too close, the jealousy of her classmates and everyone around her, and Adora... Well, the point was it was a talent she had hated growing up, though it had come in handy when it came to manipulating people. 

One of the many downsides to it though, was the need to help people feel better when they were sad or depressed. As a cat, that empathy felt like it was nearly tripled. The waves of regret and frustration coming off of Glimmer felt so palpable in her new form, Catra wasn't sure if it was actually ruffling her fur or not. 

She gave a resigned sigh and stood up. Hopping up onto the window seat, she bumped her head against Glimmer's arm and rubbed against it, starting up a comforting purr for good measure. The effect was almost instantaneous. Catra felt Glimmer's regret fade away to be replaced by confusion as she looked down at her. Then she smiled and gave a small laugh and began to pet Catra as she continued to purr and nuzzle up against her. 

“I’m sorry,” Glimmer said again, scratching under Catra’s chin. 

“Mmerm.”

_‘A little to the left and I’ll consider forgiving you.’_

“I’m just tired, and freaked out, and-" she was interrupted by a gurgling sound coming from her stomach. She blushed and quickly stopped petting to cover her noisy stomach. “…And maybe a little hungry.”

Catra gave her an irritated frown at the interruption to the scratches, but before she could voice her protest her own stomach did so for her. Glimmer laughed and gave Catra a few more chin scratches. 

“Awww, did you skip dinner so you could come see me?” she asked teasingly. Catra’s attempt at a rebuking glare was made difficult by her own purring contentment with Glimmer’s fingers. Glimmer giggled again before taking her hand away and getting to her feet.

“Come on,” she said reaching down to pick Catra up and place her on her shoulders like a parrot. “Let’s get something to eat. We’ll think better on full stomachs than empty ones.” 

Catra had never been one to be picked up and held, but before she could leap down there was that disorientating flash of purple light, and the world went topsy turvy again. 

* * *

“Ouch!”

Catra meowed an apology and retracted her claws from Glimmer’s shoulder for the third time. She was decidedly _not_ a fan of teleporting. At least not the seemingly random teleporting Glimmer kept subjecting her to. Glimmer clearly knew the castle’s dark passages well enough to blindly teleport around corners and up and down floors as easily as Catra hopped around the outer scaffoldings of Hoard Command. However, even though the scaffolding could be perilous and unstable at the best of times, at least she could always see where she was going and where she had been. Catra had become completely lost right after their first teleport into the hall outside Glimmer’s room. 

The weightless, nothingness feeling that came along with each teleport wasn’t helping her balance on Glimmer’s shoulder either. 

Glimmer sighed and Catra took it as a chance to move over to the other shoulder so she wasn’t just tearing open the same wounds. Halfway across, she froze. Her ears perked up, and her tail bristled. 

“Uh, Catra?” Glimmer asked, her head bent down at an awkward angle. Catra flipped her tail over Glimmer’s mouth and pointed a paw at the corner ahead of them. The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. 

This time Catra was expecting to be suddenly teleported, so of course it was the _one_ time Glimmer decided to move like a normal person and dashed behind a suit of armor. Catra had little choice but to simply wrap herself around Glimmer’s neck like a scarf and hold on for dear life.

Behind the armor, Catra could hear the footsteps moving closer, and then stop a few feet away. Glimmer began to move cautiously to peek out, but Catra patted her on the cheek to stay still. Glimmer nodded, and together they waited silently behind the armor. 

“Are they gone?” Glimmer asked after a minute.

“Who?” asked a voice behind them. 

What followed was total chaos. Catra screamed in surprise and leapt six feet in the air. Glimmer screamed partially in surprise, but mostly out of pain as Catra’s claws dug into her fresh shoulder and used it as a launch pad. Bow screamed entirely out of fear and confusion as the new fur scarf his best friend was wearing suddenly screamed and hurled itself into the air. It flew spitting and howling over his head, before landing behind him and dashing back between his legs to hide behind Glimmer’s.

Bow flailed his arms and threw up his legs as Catra raced past them, which resulted in him falling over and landing hard on his pride. Catra glared at him from her tactical position behind Glimmer’s legs, fur frazzled and growling while Glimmer herself leaned against a wall, hand over her chest as she tried to stop her heart from racing. 

Eventually Bow got to his feet again, only for Glimmer to punch him in the arm. _Hard_.

“Hey!”

“What do you think you’re doing sneaking up on people in the middle of the night!?” Glimmer demanded; her face still flushed. 

“Meowr!” Catra seconded, her fur still standing on end. 

“I was seeing what _you_ were doing sneaking around in the middle of the night,” Bow said sourly, rubbing his aching tail bone. Then he looked down at Catra. “And why do you have a cat?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Glimmer said quickly, reaching down and opening her arms for Catra to jump into them. Catra gave Bow a long suspicious look before hesitantly complying. They adjusted so Glimmer could hold her in the crook of one arm, and use her free hand to begin petting Catra to calm them both down. Despite her purring, Catra continued to scrutinize Bow. 

_‘How did he sneak up on **me**?’_ Catra wondered. 

“Well?” Glimmer asked again.

Bow held up a headless arrow shaft. 

“I was restocking my trick arrows after the battle today, when I had a flash of inspiration. I ran out of supplies during testing, so I came up to the castle to get some more. Then I heard someone hiding behind the armor, went around to see who it was, and asked you what you were doing. Now why” he asked, pointing the unfinished arrow at Catra, “Do you have a…”

Bow trailed off as he caught sight of Catra’s eyes. 

_‘…crap._ ’ 

Catra did not like the look of recognition Bow was giving her. Catra stared back, trying to look as innocent as possible, and hoping Glimmer could think of some way out of this before she ended up as target practice. 

“She’s, ah…” Glimmer stammered, looking from Bow to Catra. Then her face lit up with an expression of brilliance Catra wasn’t sure she felt comforted by. She grabbed Catra under the forelegs and presented her to Bow, proclaiming, “Bow, I would like you to meet, Catra Two!”

The cricket outside the palace window chirped away obliviously as Catra wondered if cats could sweat. 

“Catra… Two?” Bow asked slowly. 

“Yeah,” Glimmer said, confidently. “I mean, look at her. She looks just like Catra, right?” 

Catra hung helplessly with her tail between her legs as Glimmer suspended her under her arms. Bow looked her over, nodding. 

“I mean, yeah. _Just_ like her,” Bow said, looking at Glimmer for emphasis. 

Glimmer ignored him and set Catra back on her shoulders. 

“But she’s like, the total opposite!” Glimmer went on, awkwardly scratching Catra’s neck. “She’s calm, she’s friendly, she doesn’t try to murder you. Plus, she’s super cute and travel sized! She’s like Catra 2.0, hence the name. Catra Two.” 

_‘This is either pure stupidity or total genius_ ,’ Catra thought, trying to start up a purr and look as friendly as possible.

Bow continued to look at her skeptically. 

“I don’t know,” he said. Then he leaned in and whispered, “you don’t think it could be, you know, Catra number one?”

“Psh, come on,” Glimmer said, her crooked grin not quite meeting her nervous eyes. “You think this little angel could possibly be the Mad Cat of the Hoard in disguise? Give me a break.” 

‘ _He’s not falling for it,’_ Catra thought, willing her eyes to become bigger than they had ever been before. ‘ _Come on, be a good little gullible sidekick…_ ’ 

Bow continued to glare at her skeptically. For all of three seconds.

“Awwwww, she’s so cute! Can I hold her?” 

Catra almost stopped purring as Glimmer handed her off. 

“Sure, she’s _very_ tame and friendly,” Glimmer said, giving Catra a meaningful look as she did so.

_‘I get it, I get it,’_ Catra thought back, quickly shooting back a look of her own. 

Bow took her and cradled her in his arms like a baby. 

“Awww, aren’t you just the cutest thing?” he asked, and much to Catra’s surprise he reached out a hand and allowed her to sniff him (an new impulse she found somewhat strange and disconcerting) before reaching under her chin and finding _almost_ just the right spot to scratch. 

‘ _Hmmm,_ ’ Catra thought as she began a more genuine purr. ‘ _I think I like this boy_.’

“So, where did C Two come from anyway?” Bow asked. 

Glimmer tapped her fingers together and gave him a nervous grin. “Well, uh, I kind of found her while I was ‘not’ grounded, and I thought, hey cats are cool, right?” 

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d start going stir crazy again.” 

“Hey!”

“Still,” Bow went on, adjusting where he was scratching but still not quite getting that one spot, “I’m surprised you picked her up. I wouldn’t have thought you be too big on cats after you just barely got away from Catra one.”

“Well uh, she’s not for me you see,” Glimmer said quickly. “I, ah, got her as a present. For Adora!”

Catra stopped purring. Fortunately Bows finger stopped scratching at the exact same time, so it was excusable.

“Huh?”

“Yeah,” Glimmer went on, and Catra could see the gears in her head working overtime. “You know how Adora has trouble sleeping alone at night? Well I figured a pet would be just the thing. And I know she still misses Catra, so I figured I’d get her a replacement Catra!”

_‘I’m not sure if I’m offended or flattered_ ,’ Catra thought, her tail twitching. ‘ _But I think I’m leaning more toward offended.’_

“Uh,” Bow said, scratching his own cheek. “I’m not sure how Adora would take a constant living reminder of her ex-girlfriend slash nemesis...” 

“Meowr.” 

_“Can’t say I’d be too keen on the idea either.”_

Glimmer huffed and put on an almost convincing air of resentment. 

“Well it’s the thought that counts,” she said. “Anyway, my mom found out about it and said no cats in the castle, so I’m sneaking her out in the morning.” 

“Probably for the best,” Bow said, going back to the chin scratches. “But if you wanted to give Adora a present maybe you should try talking to her? Or at least try being in the same room as her?” 

“Meowr!”

‘ _That’s what I told her!_ ’

“See,” Bow said, holding up Catra. “Even she agrees with me.” 

Glimmer frowned at Catra and gave her a quick scratch behind the ears. 

“Well I don’t speak cat, so your opinion doesn’t matter right now.” Catra glared at her halfheartedly through her purrs. “Anyway,” Glimmer went on. “I better get this one something to eat before it gets too late.” 

She took Catra back and allowed her to crawl back around her shoulders where Catra gave her a quick nip on the ear. 

“Hey!”

‘ _Coward_.’

Bow frowned. 

“She looks like she’s pretty attached to you already. You sure you’re gonna be okay with letting her go?”

At Bow’s words, Glimmer and Catra stopped and looked at each other. They had both felt it again, right after Bow had mentioned it. It was the third time they had felt a surge of that strange tension that kept rooting them to the spot whenever they tried to go their separate ways. It was a feeling neither of them could quite put a name too. The first time it had happened, Catra had thought it was some side effect of Glimmer’s magic. Glimmer figured it was her just not wanting to be alone in the Whispering Woods. Neither of them were sure how much they actually believed those theories now. Especially after that… _thing_ on the windowsill earlier…

“Glimmer?”

They both blinked and looked up at him. Bow looked worried, and they wondered how long they had been silently standing there. 

“Don’t worry,” Glimmer said eventually, reaching up to gently run her hand down Catra’s side. “She knows where to find me. When she’s ready.” 

Normally, Catra would start gagging or stoically ignore her and look off in the opposite direction after a line like that, but there was something about her temporary body (and Glimmer herself) that seemed to be lowering her inhibitions. She purred deeply and bumped her head against Glimmer’s cheek instead. 

“Awwww,” Bow cooed. “That’s so cute. And sad. It’s almost like your two star crossed hearts, separated by class and cruel fate.”

Now Catra did gag. 

“Okay,” Glimmer said, quickly pushing Catra’s face away from hers as she pretended to cough up a hairball. “Let’s just grab some food before…” 

She trailed off, looking up at the wall over Catra’s head. Catra followed her gaze to a large mural depicting a somewhat squat but burly bearded man wearing a crown. In one hand he held a familiar looking staff, in the other he was holding what looked like a levitating soap bubble. 

“That’s it!”

Catra and Bow jumped at Glimmer’s shout and she gave a quick arm pump of victory. 

“Sorry,” she said quickly as Catra glared at her. “Sorry, but I know what to do. Here,” she said, almost tossing Catra into Bow’s arms. “Can you look after her for a minute while I do something? I’ll be right back! I know how to fix this!” 

And with that she disappeared in a flash of sparkles. Leaving Catra and Bow alone in the darkened hallway. 

“So..” Bow said, looking awkwardly down at Catra. “…Sushi?” 

“Meowr?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this AU, Catra can not remove her faceplate. More on that in the next story.


	6. Messing with Royalty...

It turned out that “sushi” was the rebellion word for “most delicious thing on the planet.” 

Despite his friendly demeaner and nearly professional chin scratching, Catra had remained cautious of Bow. She’d initially written him off as a dopy sidekick to Glimmer, whom she had written off as the dopy sidekick of Adora. However, she was quickly learning that her initial assessment of the Rebellions leaders were anything but accurate. Anyone who was capable of sneaking up on _her_ was someone who deserved her respect, and her careful attention. She also wasn’t entirely sure he had believed that “Catra Two” line either. But when Glimmer suddenly disappeared, she’d had no choice but to follow him or risk getting hopelessly lost. 

However, Catra’s cautious distrust hadn’t lasted past the third sampling platter.

“And now, Mademoiselle Catra Two,” Bow said theatrically in some kind of weird accent. “I present to you, the piece de resistance of our sushi leftovers.”

“Meowr!” Catra said from the table, standing up on her hind legs to try to get a better view of the silver tray Bow was keeping just over her line of sight. 

_“Get on with it already!”_

With a respectable flourish he pulled away the silver lid from the final tray and set it on the table in front of her. 

“Behold,” he said, waving his hand over the platter. “The Fatty Tuna Roll!”

Catra’s eyes went wide as her senses took in the sight and smell of the last sampling platter of the night. Even after the previous five types of fishy ambrosia she had had earlier, her mouth began to water.

Before she could dig in, the door behind them swung open. She looked up, half hoping it was Glimmer coming to say she’d fixed this mess, and half hoping it wasn’t so dinner could continue a bit longer. She wasn’t sure if she had gotten either wish when she saw it was Queen Angella entering the room. 

“Your majesty,” Bow said, quickly bowing. 

“Oh, hello Bow,” Angella said pleasantly. “Don’t mind me, I was just coming down for some-“ her eyes fell on Catra.

It was no secret amongst the hoard that Catra had once hunted a mouse. When she had finally cornered it, (and before Adora had made her spit it out,) it had looked at her with a level of primal terror she had never quite been able to put into words. She’d certainly never expected to see that same expression directed at her from the face of a queen. At least, not while she was less than two feet tall.

“What is that doing here!” Queen Angella screamed, pointing at Catra and flinging herself against the wall farthest from their table. 

“Uh, eating?” Bow answered uncertainly. “Are you alright, your majesty?”

Angella seemed to regain some of her composure. 

“Yes, quite fine.” She said, quickly straightening her tunic. “Now, what is that… _creature_ doing in the royal kitchen?” she added, pointing a (slightly trembling?) finger at Catra again.

“Oh, uh, Glimmer asked me to get her something to eat while she looked into something.” Bow said. Before she could protest, he scooped Catra up in his arms and began heading for the door. “Sorry to disturb you, your majesty.”

“That’s quite all right!” Angella protested, and held up an arm to stop Bow from coming any closer. 

Angella quickly slid along the wall towards the door she had just come in from. “I’ve just remembered I have important business to attend to. Please, finish your meal, and then have anything the animal came in contact with incinerated. Good night, Bow.” And with that she side stepped through the door, briskly walked a short ways down the hall, and suddenly leapt out of the first open window she came too. 

Catra and Bow stared blankly after her. 

“Well, that was… weird,” Bow said finally.

“Meowr…”

_‘Yeah…_ ’

Bow set Catra on the ground. 

“I think we better just grab the tuna to go and meet Glimmer back at her room. She should be done by now, right?”

Catra just cocked her head to the side and then looked back at the door. She had been a bit too preoccupied to spare much thought to Queen Angella’s previous hasty retreat, but now…

Catra walked over to the door as Bow gathered up the food. Her nose was still as sharp as ever, and she quickly caught the scent of that same shampoo Glimmer used. The scent led out the window and into open air, but there was another trail leading down the hall...

“Okay,” Bow said, putting the finished touches on a neatly wrapped picnic basket filled with plates, chopsticks and the remaining sushi. “That should be everything. Ready to go? Catra Two? Twosies?” 

The kitchen was empty. As was the hall beyond.

“…Oh no.”

* * *

“Come on, it’s gotta be here somewhere,” Glimmer said to herself as she looked through yet another dust covered shelf of her father’s old things. 

She had never been inside her father’s study before. Her mother had locked it up not long after his death, and it had been years since anyone had set foot inside. Of course, a locked door meant very little to someone who could teleport through walls. The real problem was the inch-thick coating of dust on every surface, making it impossible to tell what was what. 

After several minutes of sneezing, searching, and more sneezing, Glimmer finally spotted what she was after on an old desk, still covered with yellowed papers and dried inkwells. It was a glass orb, approximately four inches in diameter. Glimmer gave a whoop of victory and quickly snatched it up from the table. 

“Yes! Okay, now I just have to turn it on. Uh, let’s see. I should just tap it like this…”

Holding the orb in the palm of her hand, Glimmer tapped it sharply on the top. A soft light began to grow from within the center of the orb.

“Castaspe-” Glimmer began, but before she could finish the light suddenly cut out. It was replaced by the image of an empty crystal blinking in the center. 

“Low battery!” Glimmer moaned. “Aww, come on.” 

Grumbling, Glimmer began searching around for the charging pedestal. 

* * *

Queen Angella sighed as she wadded up another half written letter and tossed it with its fellows in the trash bin. 

"Honestly Angella. You wright up proclamations and battle plans that shape the fate of Etheria every week. Why is it so hard to write _one_ letter to your sister in law?"

She picked up a small portrait up off the desk and ran her fingers over the face smiling back at her. 

"Especially when it's about your daughter..."

She set Glimmer’s portrait down again, and leaned back in her chair to stare up at the ceiling, hoping the words she needed would just pop into existence on the moonlight streaming in through the window. It was a slim chance admittedly, but stranger things had happened. 

When several seconds went by without any signs of divine intervention, she closed her eyes and rubbed them with a groan. She had been at it for almost an hour, with the only break she had taken to get some repast from the kitchens interrupted by-

"Meowr?" 

Queen Angella’s eyes popped open and her body went rigid. Slowly, she turned around in the chair to face the window. There, silhouetted against the moonlight, was an orange cat. 

* * *

Catra had to fight to contain her utter delight as the leader of the Rebellion shot up from her chair and began brandishing it as a makeshift weapon. 

"Oh no you don't. Go on, shoo! Scat!"

"Meowr?" Catra asked innocently, hopping down from the window and making her way into the room. 

"No no no, Guards! No, Glimmer!" Angella shouted at the door. "Glimmer Brightmoon, come here this- No no, not on the bed!" she wailed as Catra hopped up on the large royal sized canopy bed to test if it was as soft as Glimmer's. 

To her delight, it was.

As she began purring and rolling around, taking care to shed as much as possible in the process, Angella continued to scream for Glimmer, the Guards, Bow, Adora, even the First Ones themselves to "come get this *achoo* horrible creature!"

Eventually Angella's sneezing became so bad that she dropped the chair she was holding and looked like she was about to fall over. Catra stopped her frolicking to watch the Queen snort and wheeze. On one paw, having someone as powerful as Queen Angella trembling from her very presence (or at least her dander) was immensely gratifying. On the other, she doubted Glimmer would be very pleased with her nearly killing her mother, and that stupid conscience thing was really starting to take the fun out of it. 

She was just about to get up and head for the window when Angella suddenly froze mid inhale. With her eyes closed, she tightened her hands into fists, and dropped them to her sides. She slowly brought herself up to her full height, let out a slow even exhale, and opened her eyes.

Her icy glare made Catra swallow one of her own nine lives. 


	7. ...is never a good idea.

"There," Angella said, smiling down at the sphere of magic holding Catra. "That's much better."

Catra's fur was standing on end. One second she had had Queen Angella at her mercy, the next she had been captured in the same barrier she had seen the Queen use in Glimmer’s room earlier. When was she going to learn not to mess with royals? At least she hadn't blown her cover. _Yet_. 

"Now," Angella said, bringing the sphere up to eye level. "Let's have a look at my would be assassin."

Catra closed her eyes tight and covered her face with her paws, trying to curl into as small of a ball as possible. 

After a minute or two of silence, she risked a peek. She couldn’t see the queen, so she uncovered her face and looked around. A quick glance to the right and she was eye to telltale eye with Angella. As soon as their eyes met, Catra saw a look of recognition flash across Angella’s face. She quickly shut her eyes again and tried in vain to hide her face. 

Dead. She was dead. The Rebellion equivalent of Shadow Weaver knew exactly who she was. Her imagination began wondering what kind of torture and execution she was in for. Probably something to do with the moon. Or light. A moon laser? Was she about to be burned alive by a moon laser without even the dignity of dying in her own skin? 

To her shame, she couldn't stop trembling as she waited for Angella to decide if she wanted Catra medium rare or well done. All she could hear was the pounding of her own heart. 

After a minute that felt like an eternity, Catra’s panic began to subside, and she realized it wasn’t her heart that she was hearing. It was something tapping rhythmically on top of the barrier. She opened her eyes and saw that they had moved slightly. Angella was seated at her vanity, staring off into the distance with a thoughtful frown while she drummed her fingers absentmindedly on Catra's magic cage as it rested on her lap. 

Angella looked down at Catra as if sensing her eyes upon her. Her panic gone and her embarrassment growing, Catra tried to back away inside the bubble and gave a cautionary growl from the back of her throat. 

"Oh hush," Angella said, giving the bubble a little tap and sending a ripple across the surface. Catra's eyes went wild as she watched the ripple orbit around her, bouncing and deflecting off of anywhere Catra touched it like a ping of sonar. 

Angella gave a small half grin as she watched Catra's head rapidly twist this way and that as she tried to make sense of what was going on. 

"I'll have you know you’ve made quite the nuisance of yourself tonight," Angella went on. "You've stolen everything from my daughter to my dinner this evening. Cat burgling the royal family is quite the offence. However,"

The ripples disappeared as Angella picked up the bubble and held it up to eye level. 

"Since my daughter seems to be, shall we say, _invested_ in you, I think I can forgive your past offences. _Provided_ there are no more invasions of my castle?"

Angella arched an eyebrow and Catra stared back in confusion. Was Angella actually forgiving her? Or had Catra mistaken that look earlier, and all she was doing was berating a stray cat? 

If Angella had thought her capable of making a reply, she didn’t wait for it. She stood up, taking Catra with her as they crossed the room towards a closed window opposite the one Catra entered through. 

“I think I shall turn in for the night. Though after all this a nice cup of tea is certainly in order.” Angella said, opening the window. There was a small garden built into it. “I really must see about restocking my jasmine though. I believe it still grows in an old clearing not too far to the north. Not too hard to find if you know where you’re going, though it can’t be seen from the Castle. Perhaps I’ll send Glimmer there to fetch some tomorrow while the servants fix up her room.”

Catra watched her intently. What was going on? Was that supposed to mean something to her? Was Angella just talking because she loved the sound of her own voice? Why didn’t anything related to the Rebellion ever make any sense?? 

“Oh well,” Angella went on. “I’ll just have to make do with Catnip for now.” 

‘ _Cat-what?_ ’ Catra thought as she watched Angella brake a few leaves off a plant she couldn’t recognize. 

“As for you,” she said, looking back down at Catra. “I think I know _exactly_ how to keep you out of my hair for the rest of the night.”

And with that Angella opened a small hole in the top of the bubble and dropped in a few leaves of the strange plant. 

Catra's eyes dilated to nearly their full size as soon as she caught its sent.

* * *

"Ugg, come on already," Glimmer moaned. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, bouncing impatiently as she watched the small gem symbol in the orb slowly fill up with bars.

The orb was down to the last blinking bar at the top of the gem. 

"Come on," Glimmer said, glairing down at the orb. 

The last bar blinked on. 

"Come on..."

The last bar blinked off.

"Come oooooonnnnn..."

It blinked on.

"Oh for-"

The image disappeared and a white light began to grow in the center of the crystal. 

“Finally! Okay, here we go.” Glimmer picked up the crystal and held it in front of herself. She cleared her throat. “Castaspe-”

The light suddenly died and the words “installing updates: 1 of 26” appeared in its place. 

It took every fraction of Glimmer’s self-control not to hurl the orb out the window as she screamed. 

* * *

Adora had just rolled over in her bed for the thirty eighth time that night when there was a knock at her door. 

She practically flew out of the bed to throw it open. 

"Glimmer?"

To her surprise, she found Queen Angella standing on the other side. 

"Ah, I take it that my daughter is not with you then," Angella said, her tone and expression oddly indecipherable.

"Your majesty," Adora said, quickly bowing before looking up in alarm. "Wait, is Glimmer missing? I'll grab my sword and-"

"I hardly think that will be necessary, Adora," Angella said calmly. "I doubt my daughter is in any more trouble than usual. It is likely she is simply out looking for this."

Angella waved her hand and an orb holding a small purring creature floated into view. As Adora stepped closer to get a better look, the animal inside looked up at her with extremely dilated eyes, rubbing its face enthusiastically all over some leaves. When the creature caught sight of her, it paused for a second as if studying her. Then its purring intensified tenfold and the animal rolled onto its back so it could reach up with its front paws towards her.

"Merowra!"

"Uh," Adora said hesitantly, poking a finger at the bubble. "What is that thing? It looks kind of like Catra."

"Meowr!" it said as it tried to bat at her finger through the bubble. 

"...Adora, have you never seen a cat before?"

"No," Adora said, continuing to play with the "cat" inside the bubble. "There wasn't really much wildlife in the fright zone aside from rats, mice, and bugs.”

"I see..." Angella said. She watched Adora move her finger across the surface of the bubble so the cat could chase it. A strange smile tugged at her lips. "Well, my daughter smuggled this creature into the castle despite my wishes, and should be out searching for it. I have several important diplomatic matters to attend to this evening, so perhaps you could mind the animal for tonight?"

"What?" Adora asked, looking up.

"Excellent," Angella said, and with a wave of her hand the bubble popped. The animal fell to the ground, but the instant its paws hit the floor it sprang into Adora's arms like a bullet and began nuzzling and purring up a storm. 

"Thank you Adora, always good to know we can rely on you," Angella said, covering her mouth with a handkerchief as she reached down to pick up the leaves that had fallen as well. 

"But what-"

"I'm sure my daughter will be along to see you any moment. Goodnight Adora."

And with that Queen Angella shut the door, leaving a confused Adora holding an extremely affectionate feline. 

“Phew,” Adora said, recoiling as the cat tried to nuzzle her face. “You stink like raw fish. Come on, let’s give you a bath before we get you back to Glimmer.” 

* * *

A thousand years later, (or at least that was what it felt like to Glimmer,) the orb gave a soft chime and began to glow a soft white again. 

Glimmer sat up from the dust covered carpet and eyed it suspiciously. 

"Is that it? Are you done? Don't need me to start dancing around the room so you can find a signal, or start looking for my dad's old password or anything?"

The orb remained silent. 

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at it a few seconds more. Then she hesitantly picked it up and held it in her palm in front of her. 

"Okay, third time's the charm," she muttered quietly. Then in the clearest, most commanding voice she could muster in the dark dusty air she said, "Castaspella."

The orb responded to her command at once, glowing brighter and floating off of her palm to float in front of her. Glimmer stepped back and had to shield her eyes as they adjusted from the dark gloom surrounding her. The orb hung in the air for several seconds, its light pulsing softly.

“Come on…” Glimmer whispered to herself. “Come on, pick up.”

The light changed to a pale purple and began to grow. A second later, the slightly transparent and worried image of Castaspella appeared around the orb. 

“Hello?” she asked. 

“Yes!” Glimmer yelled, pumping her arm in triumph. 

“Glimmer? Glimmer is that you?”

“Yes! It’s me Aunt Casta. Can’t you see me?”

Castaspella deflated and she put a hand to her chest. 

“Stars above, Glimmer. I think I had a heart attack when I saw your father’s name suddenly appear on my crystal ball. And no, I can’t see you. Try stepping closer, that old thing has a very limited range.”

Glimmer stepped closer hesitantly until Castaspella seemed to find her. 

“Better?”

“Much.” Castaspella smiled.

“Okay, and sorry for calling you like this, but I have a… a sort of a situation here?”

Castaspella straightened up immediately. 

“Is it the Hoard? Are you under attack? Hold tight, I’ll be there with my best mages in a-“

“No no!” Glimmer insisted waving her hands. “Nothing like that, we’re all fine! It’s, ah, more of a… personal problem. See, I’ve been going through some… changes lately and, well…”

“Oh. Well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Glimmer.” Castaspella said, blushing slightly. “I’d of hoped your mother might have talked to you about this sort of thing, but I suppose I can-“

“Not that!” Glimmer screamed, her face reddening. “I think I’m a mage!”

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. Then Castaspella excitedly asked,

“Who’d you _hex_?”


	8. Magic 101

"Why does everyone keep saying I've _hexed_ them!?! I've never hexed anyone in my life!"

Castaspella was halfheartedly trying to hide her giggles as Gllimmer waved her arms in protest. 

"Alright, alright," Castaspella said, getting control of herself. "I'm sorry for assuming. Now, tell me what happened."

"...I turned my friend into a cat."

Castaspella stared at her open mouthed for a long moment before giving a small chuckle and shaking her head. 

"Like father like daughter," she said softly to herself. Glimmer straightened up. 

"Huh?"

"You'll have to ask your mother about it some time. But as for your current predicament, it’s nothing to worry about. Transformation magic is quite easy to undo, even for a beginner mage. Provided that's _all_ you did to her."

Glimmer rubbed the back of her neck. 

"Well, you see..."

* * *

Catra felt great. In fact, she had never felt better in her life. Everything looked so beautiful. She could still taste a bit of that “sewchee” or whatever Bow had called it on her lips. The arms wrapped around her were so nice and warm as they carried her off to who knows where, and there was a finger finally scratching the _exact_ right spot under her chin. Everything was right with the world. 

Until it all came to a sudden, horrible, cold and wet end. 

Her happy mood evaporated as she was plunged headfirst into what felt like a wall of falling ice. She opened her mouth to try to howl in protest, but she only succeeded in choking on the water as it flooded her mouth. Furious, Catra began to thrash and twist about wildly, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on when she was suddenly yanked back out. She was a yowling, frozen, sopping wet naked mess of fur and claws, and somebody was gonna pay _dearly_ for it!

“Stop struggling! It’ll all be over in a minute if you just keep still!”

Catra froze. She’d know that voice anywhere. She still heard it in her dreams sometimes. 

The hair around her face was covering her eyes, so she couldn’t see, but she could feel herself being lowered to the ground by whatever was holding her by the scruff of the neck. It set her down in a shallow pool of frigid water that came up to her knees. 

“That’s better.”

Cautiously, Catra wiped the water from her face with a paw and looked up. Her eyes bulged as she saw Adora, now the size of a giant, kneeling next to her and rummaging through a basket of variously colored bottles. 

Catra’s head started spinning again, and not at all in the pleasant way it had earlier. She tried to remember how she had gotten there. She could remember the battle earlier that day, the paperwork, stealing a skiff to go look for Glimmer, then Glimmer throwing her in a closet, and…

She looked down at her paws as the rest of the night came back to her. Well, most of it. There was still a pretty big fuzzy patch between the Queen’s bedroom and now. Her mind buzzed with questions. How had she gotten here? Had Queen Angella recognized her or not? Had she given her to Adora? Was this some kind of weird power play against her for messing with the Queen’s allergies? 

…Could Glimmer get her anymore of that weird plant? 

She was pulled out of her thoughts as she felt Adora’s hands grab hold of her, and then start… massaging her?

“There we go. That’s a good girl. Now just hold still a little longer while I get you all nice and clean for Glimmer.”

‘ _Glimmer’s coming_?” Catra thought as Adora lathered her up with some flowery scented soap. ‘ _Great. I’m trapped in a bath with my best friend turned mortal enemy, while I wait for my old mortal enemy turned life coach to come find me and undo her newest hex on me. I remember when all I had to worry about was running into Shadow Weaver on a bad day_.” A shudder passed through her that had nothing to do with the cold water. ‘Well, _I guess things could be worse._ ’

Suddenly the massage stopped, and she was lifted back into the air by the scruff of the neck again. 

“Alright, time to rinse you off!”

_‘…Me and my big mind.’_

At least the frigid water didn’t catch her off guard this time. She just closed her eyes and let it happen. Once she was soaked and chilled to the bone again, Adora plunked her down on the floor looking like a half drowned rat. Then she threw a towel over her and began roughly drying her off. When she had finished, Adora looked down at her thoughtfully. 

“You know, you look a lot like an old friend of mine.”

“Meowr,” Catra said unamused. 

‘ _You don’t say?’_

“Well, not a friend anymore I guess,” she added softly. “Now she’s… she’s not a good person. I don’t think she ever was, actually. I just couldn’t see it. Like a lot of things.” 

_‘…Stars, I am **so** not in the mood to deal with this right now._’ Catra thought miserably as Adora continued. 

It had been a pretty shitty day all things considered. True, the food had been good, and she was pretty sure that chunk of time after Angella had given her the leaves had been fun (even if she couldn’t remember any of it,) but between being turned into a cat, nearly killed by various flying projectiles throughout the day, and getting caught by virtue of her own stupidity (by a queen no less,) she just wasn’t in the mood to have a one sided heart to heart with Adora tonight. Or _any_ night for that matter.

She looked around the room for any means of escape as Adora went on and on about how they had both changed or maybe they hadn’t or blah blah blah. Both the doors and windows were shut, not to mention several dozen times bigger than her. There were also very few places to hide as Adora’s room was downright minimalist compared to Glimmer’s. There was just a desk, a chair, a single closed wardrobe, and…

Catra smiled in her towel as she beheld her salvation. She just had to wait till Adora was distracted. 

“I mean, she never listens to reason! It’s simple cause and effect, Catra; if you act bad, then bad things will happen to you!” Adora said, making several exaggerated gestures for emphasis. 

‘ _And that’s my cue_.’

Wiggling a little to get herself warmed up, Catra pounced out of the folds of the towel and up onto Adora’s shoulder. 

“Hey!” 

Using her like a springboard, Catra launched herself across the room and landed neatly in the center of Adora’s infamous bed. Adora got to her feet and rushed over to her.

“Hey! Get out of there!” Adora shouted from the edge of the bed, though she made no effort to climb onto it. Catra gave her a smile at cocked her head to the side dumbly. “I’m warning you,” Adora said, pointing a threatening finger. “I’m going to count to three. One. Two.”

Catra yawned and shook out some of the remaining water. 

“Two and a half…” Adora said, her voice wavering a little. Catra paid her no mind and started giving herself a proper bath to smooth out her fur. Adora groaned and balled her hands into fists. “Alright. I warned you!” 

Taking a few steps back, Adora took a running start at the bed and dove in headfirst with her arms outstretched. Just as she was about to grab her, Catra suddenly shot straight up like an orange rocket, and Adora’s hands closed on thin air. She plunged face first into a pile of pillows. 

As she propped herself up, spitting mouthfuls of feathers, Catra landed squarely on the back of her head and sprang off again, shoving Adora’s face back into the feathery mess. Adora growled through bared teeth and flying feathers as she sat up again and turned to see Catra disinterestedly continuing her bath on the other side of the bed. 

“So that’s the way it’s gonna be, huh? Alright kitty, let’s do this!” 

* * *

Castaspella’s transparent image had her arms crossed and her hand to her chin in thought as Glimmer finished her story. 

“So, let me make sure I have this right. You were having a friendly sparring match with your ‘friend,’ when you accidentally summoned forth the untapped wells of your father’s magic and cast a spell on her that took away all her anger, and temporarily kept her from feeling anymore?” Glimmer gave her best innocent smile and nodded. “Then, a few weeks later, this same friend of yours suddenly breaks into your room, and while hiding her from your mother, you accidently turned her into a cat?”

Glimmer nodded again. 

“Yep. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Mhmm.” 

“Hmmm. It is strange though. Usually when a mage’s magic manifests by instinct, it’s as a result of a life or death situation. I’ve never heard of such power manifesting during something as benign as a sparring match.”

“I just, er, got _really_ into it.”

“…Well, I suppose you did inherit your mother’s sense of competition.” 

“Huh?” Glimmer blinked in confusion, but Castaspella went on.

“At any rate, I will have to do some research on what kind of spell you could have cast. It sounds almost like a charm spell, but that wouldn’t simply fade out slowly like you described. It almost sounds like a type of emotional memory manipulation. Though that’s not the sort of thing an untrained mage should be able to do by pure instinct either.” Castaspella said thoughtfully, more to herself than to Glimmer.

“Wait, memory manipulation?” Glimmer asked nervously, “are you saying I did… _black_ magic?”

“Hmmm? Oh! No, no, no! Of course not sweety!” Castaspella assured her quickly, waving her hands in protest. “No, I was just… no. Sorry, I tend to get a bit carried away when I… No. I don’t think you would even be capable of anything even _remotely_ like that. All the same,” she added, her tone lowering seriously. “While I’m sure your experimenting with all kinds of magic right now, I must caution you to not try to do anything like that again. In fact, I’m sorry, but it might be best if you were to keep some distance from your ‘ _friend’_ until you’ve had some training on how to control your powers. Magic by instinct can be unpredictable even with the best of intentions.”

“I never meant to do this to her,” Glimmer said, glaring down at her hands as a few sparkles of frustration played across them. “It was an accident. I just…” 

“And I believe you, dear!” Castaspella assured her. “But a mage’s raw magic is driven mostly by emotion and unconscious desire. Anyone you feel strongly about is going to be a lightning rod for your magic.”

Glimmer groaned. 

“Fine. I doubt I’m ever going to see her again after tonight anyway. At least not on friendly terms.”

“Oh sweetheart,” Castaspella said, watching Glimmer. She looked as if her own heart were breaking at the sight. “You… you just need a little time to practice, that’s all. I’m sure Adora will understand once you explain.”

“Adora!” Glimmer gave a snort and ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t even want to think about what I’m going to do about _her_ right now. Stars, she would totally freak out if she ever found out about this,” Glimmer realized, her eyes going wide. 

Castaspella looked confused.

“But, I thought she was…”

“She… what?” Glimmer asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. 

“Oh, um, nothing,” Castaspella said, waving her hand. “But getting back to helping your _other_ friend...” 

“…Yes?” 

Glimmer saw her aunt’s eyes twinkle, and she suddenly got the feeling she had just said something she shouldn’t have.

“As I said, the spell is actually quite easy to break,” she went on before Glimmer could worry anymore about it. “You see, transformation spells such as you described must be constantly maintained by the will and magic of the caster in order for the pseudo-homunculus to maintain its form on our plain of existence.”

“Wait,” Glimmer interrupted. “I think I only got about half of that, but are you saying she’s still a cat because I’m keeping the spell going?”

Castaspella smiled proudly and nodded.

“But I _don’t_ want her to be a cat!” Glimmer insisted, flailing her arms. “That’s like, the exact _opposite_ of what I want! I’ve been trying to change her back all night!”

“True, you _consciously_ know that you _should_ change her back,” Castaspella said, her smile becoming a bit more knowing. “But after what you said earlier, it seems pretty clear you don’t want her to leave either.” 

Glimmer opened her mouth to respond before blushing and looking away.

Castaspella’s eyes twinkled again. 

“The first step to solving a problem is to admit it,” she said teasingly. 

Glimmer groaned and rubbed her face. “You said there was an easy way to reverse the spell?” 

“Oh yeah. Easy as pie,” Castaspella said smiling. “Just take a nap.”

“Uh, sorry Aunt Casta. I think my crystal ball might be glitching. I thought I just heard you say to take a nap.”

“I did.” Castaspella said brightly. “You see, a transformation spell requires a constant stream of magic to its target because it manipulates the reality of the body, usually the caster themselves, and pulls that form out of tangible space, forcing it into a pocket of adjacent reality and placing the soul into a magically created form chosen and shaped by the host to-”

“Uugggg…” Castaspella stopped as Glimmer groaned, clutching her head as she tried to keep up. 

“…basically, if you fall asleep the subconscious thoughts that are sustaining the spell will get distracted by your dreams and the spell will stop.” 

“Okay,” Glimmer sighed, her shoulders sagging. Then she brightened. “Thanks Aunt Castaspella, I owe you one. But uh, I think my mom might be writing to you soon. So if you could, you know, just keep this between us?”

Castaspella smiled and pulled her fingers across her lips. 

“Not to worry, teacher student confidentiality is my specialty.”

“Thanks, Aunt Casta. Um, does that mean you’ll help me with getting my new magic under control too?” 

Castaspella beamed. 

“I would have insisted even if you hadn’t asked!” Glimmer shoulders sagged just a little. She had suspected as much. “I’ll wait for your mother’s letter before we set up anything official, but in the meantime I’m just a crystal away if you need anything. In fact, why don’t you give me a call tomorrow and we’ll go over some meditation techniques that should help?” 

“I’ll do that, and thanks again, Aunt Casta.” Glimmer said. Then she yawned. “Okay, I better go track down my cat and get to bed. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart. And I hope you two have sweet dreams.” She added with that mischievous twinkle in her eyes again. 

Before Glimmer could say anything more, Castaspella’s image disappeared and the crystal ball floated easily back onto its pedestal. Glimmer stared into the reflective crystal for a minute. Her reflection looked back at her. She harrumphed and frowned down at it. 

“I told her I should have just taken a nap. Stubborn cat.” She muttered before teleporting out of the room. 


	9. Truths by Moonlight

Glimmer was getting annoyed. She had searched the kitchens, her room, the main hall, she’d even checked the outer grounds but there was no sign of Catra or Bow anywhere. Out of desperation she had thought back to what Bow had said about making new trick arrows and started checking the supply closets and workshops. 

Finally, after nearly five whole minutes of teleporting around the entire castle, she found him nervously muttering to himself at a work bench near the training grounds. He was looking over some new trick arrow he was working on, though Catra was nowhere in sight. Stifling a yawn, she carefully made her way around the far too neatly organized tables of spare parts and tools, and tried to get his attention.

“Bow, where’s Catra? Bow? Hello? Boooow.”

It was no good. He seemed completely absorbed in examining the arrow and muttering things to himself like, “okay, if I was a kitty, where would I go?” Getting frustrated, Glimmer abandoned all pretense of subtlety and loudly shouted,

“BOW!”

“AH!”

Bow jumped and turned around to face a very grumpy Glimmer. He didn’t notice her scowl however. He was too distracted by the arrow that had slipped out of his hands, and was falling point down towards the ground in (to him at least) slow motion. 

“Hey, where’s the Furball- huh?” Glimmer said, interrupted by the sound of metal striking stone and the rapid expulsion of compressed gas. 

She saw a thick pink smoke rising up to her face, smelled something that reminded her of poppies, and was out before she even hit the floor. 

* * *

“ _Months of intensive planning_ ,” Catra thought as she idly licked a paw. “ _Hundreds of shock troopers, state of the art hoard bots, trap tanks, mega lasers_.”

“Met Moff!”

“ _And all I really needed was a feather bed and some silk sheets._ ” 

Catra mused silently on this as she continued her bath seated on Adora’s chest. The proud and mighty savior of the rebellion was completely mummified in the tangle of luxurious bedding she had wrapped around herself while trying to catch Catra. She was literally cocooned in comfort, trapped laying on her back in the middle of the bed amongst a sea of feathers and empty pillows, while her sword lay uselessly propped up against the end of the bed.

Just as Catra finished preening herself back into a respectable state, she felt an odd tingling sensation run through her body, and saw the telltale twinkling of purple glitter begin to form around her. 

“ _Uh oh_.”

She leapt off Adora half a second before she was enveloped by a flash of purple light. When she landed silently on the carpeted floor, she stood up on two legs in her own body again. 

“A little warning would have been nice, Sparkles,” she muttered under her breath, flexing her fingers and checking herself over. Everything seemed to be in place, including (she discovered with disappointment,) her face plate. “Of course…” 

Making for the window she undid the latch and opened it as quietly as she could. Hopping onto the windowsill, she looked around and found the rope to Glimmer’s room was only a few windows away, and easy climb for a cat burglar such as herself. She’d be able to leap over to it and escape without anyone else knowing she had ever been there. Nice and clean.

She slowly turned her head a little to look back at the still writhing lump of sheets on the bed. 

Well, what was the fun in getting away clean anyway? 

* * *

As Adora continued to struggle and curse as she attempted to free herself from her traitorous bed, she didn’t notice the familiar silhouette fall over her. But she couldn’t fail to notice an all too familiar voice whisper in her ear,

“Hey Adora.” 

She froze. 

“Matra,” she said with as much venom as she could muster through the sheets. 

“Close enough,” Catra said, and sat down on the bed, casually leaning against Adora. “I gotta say, these are some pretty fancy quarters you got here. There even better than mine, and I’m Hordack’s second in command. ‘Course, I guess you don’t think too much about soft beds when you sleep plugged into an outlet every night.” 

“Moo mont met mmay mif mis, Matra!”

“Huh?”

“Moo mont met mmay mif mis!”

“I can’t understand you.”

“MER! Moo mont met-“

“Ugg, hold on.”

Catra twisted around and tugged at the sheet for a few seconds until Adora’s head popped free. 

“You won’t get away with this, Catra!”

“You’re welcome,” Catra said flatly. “And get away with what exactly?”

“With… whatever it is you’re after! I won’t let you get away with it!” 

“Mhmm.” Catra looked Adora up and down again before resting her elbows on Adora’s stomach and holding her head in her hands. “And how exactly are you going to stop me, She-worm?” 

Adora’s eyes narrowed and she grinned. 

“You shouldn’t have ungagged me.” Then turning towards the door she yelled, “Guards!” 

The two of them watched the door for several seconds. 

“Uh, exactly what ‘guards’ are you referring to?” Catra asked, using her fingers to provide air quotes. “Because I’ve been all over this castle and I haven’t seen so much as a security camera.” 

“Their… probably just waiting for reinforcements,” Adora said, _almost_ confidently. “You better get out of here before they get ready to break in.” 

“Oooo, a handful of nonexistent palace guards,” Catra said, getting up off the bed and waving her hands theatrically. “Whatever will I do?” 

Her eye caught the glint of metal at the foot of the bed and she smiled. 

“Guess I better make my daring escape back to the Fright Zone, but,” she added, picking up the Sword of Protection and holding it up for Adora to see. “I wouldn’t want to go back empty handed.”

“No!” Adora screamed in panic, and renewed her struggle to free herself. She stopped when the point of her own sword was rudely shoved into her face. 

“You want to see this hunk of junk again in the morning? Then you better shut up, settle down, and actually _listen_ to what I have to say for once in your life.” 

Catra’s mismatched eyes glared down at her from over the point of the blade. Adora glared back. Then she swallowed her protests and looked away.

“That’s better,” Catra said, straightening up, taking the sword away, and casually inspecting it. “So, let’s get right to the point, shall we?” 

Catra could practically see the gears turning in Adora’s head as she glared up at the ceiling with rage and humiliation. She could see her forming responses to the questions she thought were coming like, “I’ll never tell you where the camp is,” or “Do whatever you want to me, but I’ll never betray my friends,” or some other such predictable heroic nonsense. 

Catra cleared her throat and took her best commander’s stance. 

“You need to treat Glimmer better.”

“I’ll never… wait what?”

‘ _Called it,_ ’ Catra thought to herself as Adora gaped at her. She continued, 

“Glimmer? You know, purple sparks, teleportation, stands about four foot nothing including the poufy hair? You need to get your shit together and start treating that girl the way she deserves.”

Adora just blinked at her several times with her mouth hanging slightly open. Catra gave an irritated huff and leaned over her. 

“Look. That girl is head over heels for you. I know it. She knows it. Scorpia knows it! _Emily_ knows it! Literally _everybody_ in this war knows it except for you! …And possibly Kyle, but my point is!” she went on, grabbing Adora by the sheets and pulling her up till they were practically nose to nose. “You need to get it through your thick, brain damaged skull and _do_ something about it. Because if you don’t, I promise, I _swear_ , I will break this sword over your impossibly thick head and _personally_ make sure she gets someone who will appreciate her like she should be. Got it?” 

“W…Why do you care?” Adora asked, bewildered. 

Catra straitened up and let go of the sheets, letting Adora flop back down onto the bed. She stared down at her. 

“Because you’re an idiot, and that’s what friends do.” Catra said simply. 

“We… We’re still friends?” Adora asked. She seemed skeptical, but there was an undeniable hope in her eyes. 

Catra’s expression was stony as she looked down at her. Then she reached down and put her hand around Adora’s neck. 

“Catra?” Adora asked in panic as she felt her hand begin to squeeze. “Catra, don’t!” she gasped, but she could already feel herself begin to fade. Tears formed in her eyes as her vision began to blur, and as she tried in vain to break free, she heard Catra whisper,

“You were never my friend.”

A few seconds later Catra released the sleeper hold and watched as the color returned to Adora’s unconscious face. She wiped the tears from Adora’s cheek before kneeling over her and letting her own tears fall and replace them. 

“You were my whole world, you stupid bitch.”

It was the first time she’d ever actually said the words out loud. It felt cathartic in a way. 

Sitting up, Catra wiped her face clean and checked the sheets to make sure Adora couldn’t actually strangle herself in her sleep before picking up the sword again. 

“This is all your fault you know,” she told it. “It wasn’t Glimmer she picked over me, it was you. So you better take good fucking care of her,” she said, tapping a claw against the pristine blade.

A flash of Moonlight glinted off the sword. Rubbing her eyes and muttering curses, she decided that was all the reply she could expect, (or wanted if she was being honest. A talking sword would be a bit much for her to deal with right now.) She put it back at the foot of the bed and hopped onto the windowsill again. It took everything she had left to fight the urge to look back. 

A few short calculated hops and she was back inside Glimmer’s room. It was still wrecked of course, but it was also unoccupied. Knowing she had already spent far more time away from the Fright Zone than she should have, she wrote a quick letter and hid it in the hanging bed, and, after thinking about it for roughly two seconds, grabbed a little something for all the trouble she had been put through tonight. On her way out, she saw the book Glimmer had shown her earlier laying open by the window seat. She stopped to look down at it. 

It was open to a page of a story about a baby who was kidnapped by an evil witch from her parent’s castle. The picture showed the scene of the king and queen, (two perfect looking humans of course) rushing into the room just in time to see the witch escape out the window with the baby. 

There was something about the image that made her stare. Something that made her want to snap the book shut, and never think of it again. Of course, being Catra, she just had to lean closer into the moonlight to get a better look. 

Suddenly, she wasn’t in Glimmer’s room anymore. She was in a nursery, lit not by moon light, but by strange lamps that cast everything in a warm orange glow. The walls were draped in beautiful crimson curtains, and beautiful woven tapestries that depicted stick like trees with large green leaves coming out the top that grew around sparkling pools of cool blue water. The air in the room was warm and dry, and smelled of some strange spice Catra felt certain she both knew the name of, and at the same time, didn’t. 

There was a cradle turned over in the corner, and a woman dressed in white, a catfolk judging by the tail and ears, lay face down on the ground next to it. Wisps of shadow clung to her body, and Catra somehow knew she was dead. That thought sent a surge of panic and a stab of pain through her heart. She could hear the sound of a baby crying, but it was distant and distorted, as if she were hearing it in slow motion. An almost teardrop shaped door was half open and she could see a clawed hand reaching through it towards the woman on the ground. There was a scream, and then everything was swallowed by darkness. 

Then Catra was back in Glimmer’s bedroom again. She stumbled back, tripping over her own feet and colliding with the wall. She held onto it, leaning heavily against it as her chest heaved and she listened to her racing heart. The vision, (or whatever it was,) began to fade from her memory, even as she tried to cling to the details. When she finally gained some control, she realized she was crying again, though she couldn’t understand why. 

Wiping her eyes, she grabbed hold of the rope.

“Seriously,” she said as she lowered herself down the castle wall, still clutching her stolen prize. “ _Screw_ this place.”


	10. Epilogue

“Adora? Adora?”

Adora groaned as she was gently shaken awake. She tried to rub her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to move her arms. As she blearily blinked up at whoever was calling her, a familiar but unexpected face came swimming into view. 

“Uug… err… Your Majesty?” 

“Good morning, Adora,” Queen Angella said pleasantly. “I was wondering if you had seen my daughter this morning.” 

“Glimmer?” Adora asked, then the events of the previous night came rushing back to her. “Catra! Your Majesty, Catra is loose in the castle! We need to mobilize the troops! We need to seal the area! We have to-“

“Calm down,” Angella said in that gentle but stern tone she usually saved for Glimmer. “If you keep thrashing about like that you’re liable to strangle yourself. Now, hold still while I get you untangled, and explain to me _slowly_ what you mean by, “Catra is loose.”

“She was here last night!” Adora said, as she let Angella work her free. “Here, in my room! She broke in and told me to be nicer to Glimmer! Wait, you said she’s missing! Do you think she’s been-“

“I am quite confident my daughter is safely still in the castle,” Angella said calmly. She found the knot in the sheet and pulled it loose, freeing Adora. Before she could leap to her feet, Angella put a hand on her shoulder and eased her back onto the bed. 

“You’re Majesty, what are you doing? We have to-”

“Calm down,” Angella repeated, a little more sternly this time. Adora swallowed and forced herself to sit rigidly on the bed. Angella gracefully took a seat next to her. “Now, you say that Catra, the Mad Cat and commander of the Hoard, broke into your room last night, sneaking through the Whispering Woods, the Rebellion camp, all the security of the Castle, and climbed up more than thirty stories, to give you relationship advice with my daughter?” 

“Umm, well… I mean, she also threatened to take my sword.”

“This sword?” Angella said, reaching over and picking it up from the end of the bed and handing it to Adora. Adora sheepishly took it and cradled it against her chest. “I don’t mean to doubt you, but…”

“I guess, I kind of had Catra on the brain last night,” Adora said, frowning. “But… it felt so real.” She sighed. “I guess I know the real Catra would never say stuff like that, though.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen,” Angella said. She gently reached out and put a hand on Adora’s shoulder. She looked up and Angella gave her a gentle smile. “It sounds to me like you might have a lot on your mind right now. I know I wasn’t very… receptive of you when you first came here. But I hope you know that I’m here to listen if you need someone to talk to.” 

Adora blinked at her and then looked at her sword, furrowing her brow in thought.

“Thank you, your Majesty,” she said finally, looking back up at her again with confidence. “But I think I know who I really need to talk to right now.” 

Angella smiled and stood up. 

“Good. Well, I won’t detain you then. I will see you at the meeting later.” 

Adora smiled and stood up off the bed to bow Angella out. Then she remembered something else. 

“Oh, do you know where the cat went?” she asked, looking around.

“Out the window I would imagine,” Angella said casually. 

“What!?” 

Adora looked over at the open window and the thirty story drop below.

“Don’t worry,” Angella called as she left. “I’m sure she’ll turn up again sooner or later. …Though preferably later.”

* * *

Adora spent the next hour or so scouring the castle for the person she needed. She was just beginning to worry that Catra actually _had_ shown up and done a little kidnapping last night, when on a whim she opened the door to the workshop and heard some familiar snoring. Smiling, Adora crept around the benches and found Glimmer and Bow cuddled up on the floor, snoozing the day away. 

She carefully tiptoed over to them and knelt down. Then took a deep breath and, 

“On your feet soldiers, look alive!”

Glimmer and Bow both sat up in alarm, Bow holding an arrow where his bow should have been and vica versa. Glimmer immediately took her best sitting kung fu stance, twisting her head around to find the source of the danger. 

“Who? What? When? Where?” She yelled. 

“…Ow.” Bow finished and clutched his head, wincing. Glimmer groaned and did the same. 

“Good morning,” Adora said brightly. Then she noticed the others clutching their skulls and whispered, “Oh, sorry. Was I too loud?”

“What happened?” Glimmer asked as she reached out for Adora to help her get to her feet. “My head feels like a First One bug is trying to hatch in it.” 

Bow groaned and held up the trick arrow he had dropped last night. 

“Dream Drop Arrows. I was just putting the finishing touches on them when you appeared. I must have dropped one. Guess I can call them a success. Though I may want to dilute the potion a bit.” 

“Uggg, never mind your arrows, I need my…” Glimmer’s eyes popped open and she began frantically looking around the room. “Where’s the cat?” 

“Uh, about that…” Adora and Bow said at the same time.

Glimmer froze, and turned to look at them, while they both looked at each other in mild surprise. 

“About... what?” she asked nervously.

* * *

Several minutes of disjointed apology and explanation later, Glimmer was standing with her arms folded and her eyes closed as she processed everything she had just heard. 

“So, let me get this right. I left the cat with you,” she said, pointing to Bow. “And you lose her after my mom shows up and leaves. So you look around for her, can’t find her, and decide to come here to wait for me while you fiddle with your new arrows.” 

“Well, I mean, I couldn’t find you, or the cat anywhere so I figured I may as well finish my Dream Drop Arrows so if I did find her, I could… You know.”

“…right. And at some point during all that, my mom shows up at your door,” she said indicating Adora, “with the cat, and drops it off with you. You lose it, and my mom says it went out the window, but it’ll probably be back?”

“Um, yeah.” Adora said, rubbing her arm. “Glimmer I’m so sorry I lost your new pet! I just got kind of… wrapped up with something and…”

“It’s okay,” Glimmer said calmly. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. I couldn’t keep her anyway.” 

“Oh…” Adora looked sad and confused at this news. 

“I’m just glad everything worked out.” Glimmer said, though she didn’t quite look it. Then she looked at Adora. “So, um, I take it you don’t think I’m a hoard spy anymore?” 

Adora looked away and rubbed her arm. “I’ve been acting a little… paranoid lately, I guess.” 

“To be fair,” Bow said, “She did throw an entire rack of weapons at you.”

“They were _training_ weapons!” Glimmer protested. 

“And set your chair on fire at dinner.” Bow went on. 

“The soup was hot,” Glimmer pointed out. ‘ _And so was Adora,_ ’ she added mentally. “And anyway I’ve got that all figured out now. It was just my dad’s magic waking up inside me and acting on my subconscious’s altered reality or something.” 

Bow and Adora stared at her. 

“You’re what was what now?”

“I’ll explain it later,” she said tiredly as she walked towards the door. “Right now, I just want to crawl into bed and sleep off the rest of this headache.” 

“Don’t forget about the alliance meeting today!” Adora called back. Glimmer groaned and disappeared through the door, leaving Adora and Bow alone in the room.

“Well,” Bow said, stifling a yawn. “I think I’m gonna-“

He was cut short as Adora grabbed him firmly by the shoulders. 

“Bow, I need your help.”

“Me?” Bow looked surprised. Adora nodded and let go.

“Yes. You’re the only one I can go to about this. You see I… It has come to my attention that I may not be treating Glimmer… the way she deserves,” she said, struggling to choose the right words. 

Bow’s eyes lit up with understanding non the less. 

“Wait, you mean you’re ready to…” Adora put on a grim face and nodded. Bow squealed with excitement. “Finally! Oh, don’t worry. I am _way_ ahead of you. I know this cozy little restaurant you two can go where you won’t be bothered. Oh, and I can help you pick out a nice dress, or maybe a casual suit would suit you better… no. Definitely a dress. No! …yes.”

Adora visibly relaxed. 

“Thanks Bow. I knew I could count on you.”

Bow smiled and put a hand on her back as he led her out of the workshop. As they went Adora did a little fist pump and said,

“Yes! I’m going to be the best _best_ _friend_ ever! Thanks Bow. Bow? Why are you looking at me like that? Bow, what’s wrong? Are you crying!?” 

* * *

Glimmer fought the urge to just collapse on the floor as soon as she entered her room. All things said, it could have been a lot worse. From the sound of things Catra had managed to escape undetected, and she’d gotten a decent meal out of the whole thing too. Maybe she might be willing to forgive her for the whole fiasco if Glimmer brought a picknick basket of tuna roll to the next skirmish. Might be a bit tricky to explain though. 

And then there was her mother. Something about her mother’s behavior that whole night seemed… odd. She seemed almost terrified of Catra according to Bow and what she had seen herself last night. Yet according to Adora, Angella had been the one to capture her, and she had seemed quite calm when she had handed her off. Of course, she had also had Catra trapped in one of her barriers, but how had that happened? And why did Angella give Catra to Adora of all people? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just magic her into Glimmer’s room rather than walk all the way to Adora’s? And why check on Adora the next morning? 

All these questions were making Glimmer’s migraine throb even worse, so she decided to deal with it all later. Teleporting up to her bed she yawned and let herself fall back onto the pillows. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. 

“I hope you got home okay, Furball,” she said to no one. “Wish you could have at least said goodbye though…” 

She sighed and rolled over on her side, reaching for the pillow she usually used to prop up her head. She frowned when she discovered it missing. Too tired to go looking for it in the mess of her room, Glimmer just slid her arm under the pillow she had to prop it up. 

Her hand brushed against something. 

Her brow furrowed and she sat up. Lifting up the pillow she found a folded note, written on her own stationary with the words, “TOP SECRET FOR ROYAL EYES ONLY” written in large capital letters across it. She snatched it up immediately and read,

_Dear Sparkles,_

_I figured I’d leave this here for you since I need to get back ASAP. I don’t know what you did, but next time could you not do it when I’m literally in bed with the enemy? Cutting it a bit close. Anyway I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it._

_I wanted to let you know I won’t be coming back, at least not to the castle. Your mom caught me last night and I don’t know if she knew it was me, but she can be real scary when backed into a corner. She did say something about sending you to a clearing in the forest soon. If you want to see me again without having to try to kill each other, I’ll be there the next full moon. Hopefully, that’ll give you enough time to practice so you don’t set fire to the forest, **and** make some headway with you know who. _

_I expect to hear some progress on both fronts,_

The letter was signed with a crude drawing of a cat’s paw. Beneath it was,

_P.S._

_Bring some more of that soshee stuff._

Glimmer read the short letter over three times. Her mother might have been on to her? How? And if so, why would she let Catra go? And more importantly, Catra wanted to see her again! Somewhere where they wouldn’t have to try to kill each other too! 

Glimmer rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, the letter held unconsciously close to her chest. Her life had never been exactly “stable,” but this latest news left her head spinning. How was she going to balance being a princess, being a commander, learning to be a mage, getting Adora’s attention, _and_ having secret late night rendezvous with public enemy number one? 

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was all getting very complicated. 

Still, the knowledge that Catra wanted to see her again in a friendly setting made her feel… happy? Relieved? Nervous? She wasn’t sure what the word for it was, but it felt good to know they’d see each other again. She fell into a dreamless sleep still clutching the letter.

Little did she know that at that moment, Catra was still sleeping off her adventure in the commander’s quarters, clutching an overstuffed feather pillow like a teddy bear. She purred and nuzzled her face into the pillow, breathing in the scent still lingering on it. It calmed her, and helped keep the nightmares away. 

* * *

Back in the Castle, Queen Angella sat down at her desk again. She took a deep breath and began to write. 

_Hello Castaspella,_

_I know I’ve owed you this response for a long time, and I hope you can forgive me. I hope you can forgive me for a lot of things actually. But those are matters that will be best discussed face to face. For now, I must write to you concerning a pressing matter regarding my daughter. Though where to begin…_

_Do you recall the time when Micah and I were first secretly dating, and he accidently turned me into a dove?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far my longest completed fic to date. Though I suppose it’s not really complete as there’s still far more to the story. I’ve been debating on if I want to continue it as a She-Ra story now since it’s become totally AU, but I’m so in love with it at this point I’ll probably continue it anyway and just hope nobody minds it being basically its own entity now. I’ve actually got an idea for a completely separate story that starts after season 4, since it ended with prime Glitra potential. I may focus on writing that separate story before continuing this saga. But let me know which you’d like to see more of, this AU or something new? 
> 
> Also major Kudos to the Amazing Kace for their continued amazing Glitra art and great She-Ra Au’s and art in general. Be sure to check them out on Twitter @ artofkace or their works on here https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaced/. 
> 
> And be sure to leave a comment and kudos below, as that is the life blood of all Fanfcition authors. Thanks, and see you in the next story!


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